Trump Cancels Release of 'Irrefutable Report' of His Innocence

Former President Donald Trump has backtracked on his plans to release what he called an "irrefutable report" that would prove his claims about voter fraud during the 2020 election.

The former president promised on Tuesday that the report would prove his innocence in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' case against him and 18 of his allies, all accused of planning to overturn Trump's election loss to President Joe Biden in the state of Georgia. Willis released a 98-page indictment against Trump and his confidants after a grand jury vote on Monday.

But in a Truth Social post Thursday, just two days after his announcement, Trump said that his legal team would prefer to put proof of "election fraud" and "irregularities" into formal legal filings instead of releasing the report in a news conference like originally planned.

"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 as we fight to dismiss this disgraceful Indictment by a publicity & campaign finance seeking D.A., who sadly presides over a record breaking Murder & Violent Crime area, Atlanta," read Trump's post.

"Therefore, the News Conference is no longer necessary!" the former president added.

Georgia prosecutors allege that Trump and his co-defendants violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act by conspiring to overturn the state's certified election results. According to the indictment, which includes 41 charges in total, those accused attempted to overturn the election by intimidating election officials, spreading false claims of voter fraud and devising a plan to use fake Electoral College electors to declare Trump the winner.

Trump's campaign has claimed that Willis' case is a "bogus" indictment, and called the district attorney a "rabid partisan" in a statement Monday evening. Similar to responses to his other criminal charges, the former president also accused Willis of attempting to interfere with his 2024 reelection campaign.

One of Trump's former White House lawyers warned earlier this week that releasing the "irrefutable report" on voter fraud could lead to another criminal charge for Trump in Georgia. Attorney Ty Cobb told CNN Tuesday that the former president's announcement about the report was intended to "create chaos," adding, "there's a good chance that whatever document he produces ends up as evidence against him."

"It could even end up as the basis for an obstruction count against the author, because it's likely to be fiction and solely for the purpose of contaminating the jury pool," Cobb added.

Legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann on Thursday wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that it was not a "shocker" for Trump to decide to cancel his news conference.

"The only shock is he listened to his lawyers this time," Weissmann added. "Import is that the criminal cases are in fact scaring him."

Newsweek reached out to Trump's campaign via email Thursday night for comment.

Update 08/17/23, 9:12 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and background.