Trump cancels news conference to release report on 2020 election

[August 18, 2023]  (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he had canceled a press conference scheduled for next week to release a report into the 2020 election in Georgia, saying his attorneys would put his arguments in court filings instead. 

Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during the Turning Point Action Conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. July 15, 2023. REUTERS/Marco Bello/File Photo

Trump said earlier this week that he would hold the press conference on Monday to release a detailed, 100-page report into what he described as "election fraud" in the state of Georgia during the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

He has been charged in Georgia and in federal court with attempting to overturn those election results.

"Rather than releasing the Report on the Rigged & Stolen Georgia 2020 Presidential Election on Monday, my lawyers would prefer putting this, I believe, Irrefutable & Overwhelming evidence of Election Fraud & Irregularities in formal Legal Filings," Trump said on Truth Social.

Therefore, he added, the news conference was no longer necessary.

Since his defeat in 2020, Trump has repeatedly claimed that the election was marred by widespread fraud. Those claims have been rejected by courts, state reviews and members of his own administration.

(Reporting by Eric Beech and Dan Whitcomb)

[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.