President Joe Biden is set to give a speech Wednesday night to address “the threat of election deniers” despite casting doubt on the legitimacy of the midterms back in January.
Biden will deliver remarks at 7 p.m., at Washington D.C.’s Union Station on “preserving and protecting our democracy,” Washington Post White House reporter Matt Viser tweeted.
The speech is set to “address the threat of election deniers and those who seek to undermine faith in voting and democracy,” Viser tweeted.
President Biden tonight at 7pm from Union Station will deliver remarks “on preserving and protecting our democracy.” The speech, according to DNC advisory, “will address the threat of election deniers and those who seek to undermine faith in voting and democracy.”
— Matt Viser (@mviser) November 2, 2022
This contradicts previous remarks from Biden, who , refused to say whether the midterm elections would be fair and legitimate while speaking in January. Biden was pushing for the passage of the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would nationalize federal election laws. Republicans blocked the efforts, arguing it subverts the Constitution. (RELATED: James Clyburn Stokes Doubt About Upcoming Elections If Voting Legislation Not Passed)
Asked at a briefing whether the election could be fair if Congress didn’t pass legislation about voting laws, Biden said “it all depends on whether or not we’re able to make the case to the American people that some of this is being set up to try to alter the outcome of the election.”
Biden added that “no matter how hard [Republicans] make it for minorities to vote,” people will still “stand in line and defy the attempt to keep them from” voting.
Biden later reiterated his concerns, telling reporters the midterms “could easily be illegitimate.”
“Oh yeah, I think it could easily be illegitimate. Imagine, imagine if in fact, Trump is succeeded in convincing … to not count the votes,” Biden said. “Imagine of those attempts to say that the count was not legit, you have to recount it and were … going to discard the following votes. I’m not saying it’s gonna be legit. The increase in the prospect of being illegitimate is a direct proportion to us not being able to get these reforms passed.”
Former White House press sec. Jen Psaki then said Biden was not casting doubt on the legitimacy of the midterm elections.
Biden is not the only one to cast doubt on future elections, with Hillary Clintonrecently claiming that the GOP has a plan to “literally steal” the 2024 presidential election.