Former President Trump has canceled a January 6 press conference he was scheduled to hold at his Mar-a-Lago home, he announced in a statement Tuesday.
The ex-president had planned to reiterate his unfounded claims of mass voter fraud in the 2020 election on the one year anniversary of the assault on the U.S. Capitol. The assault followed a rally Trump held in Washington, D.C., and weeks of Trump falsely asserting the election was rigged. Instead of a press conference, the former president said he’ll instead address the issues he intended to discuss at a rally in Arizona on January 15.
“In light of the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6th Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media, I am canceling the January 6th Press Conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, and instead will discuss many of those important topics at my rally on Saturday, January 15th, in Arizona—It will be a big crowd!” Trump said in an email message.
In his statement, the former president asserted — without evidence — that the House committee investigating the Capitol riot is engaged in a coverup and asked why it was not instead investigating “the fraud of the 2020 Presidential Election.” Multiple investigations, including one by Trump’s own Department of Justice, have found no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.
The former president’s press conference would have come the same day President Biden will deliver remarks to mark the anniverasry of the attack, during which he is expected to condemn the violence of January 6 as an attempt to overturn democracy. White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday said the president will address “the truth of what happened, not the lies that some have spread since, and the peril it has posed to the rule of law and our system of democratic governance.” Psaki said the president will also commemorate the members of law enforcement who protected the Capitol that day.
Three more law enforcement officers on Tuesday sued the ex-president over the events of January 6. The ex-president often touted his support for law enforcement during his presidency.
