Trump’s legal advisers urge him to cancel press conference to refute Georgia allegations: Sources

Written by ABC Audio ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on August 17, 2023

(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump’s promised press conference to refute the allegations in the indictment handed up by the Fulton County DA’s Office is now very much in doubt, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.

Sources tell ABC News that Trump’s legal advisors have told him that holding such a press conference with dubious claims of voter fraud will only complicate his legal problems and some of his attorneys have advised him to cancel it.

Trump announced the planned press conference with a social media post shortly after he and 18 co-defendants were indicted late Monday in Georgia. He said he would present, “A Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable REPORT on the Presidential Election Fraud which took place in Georgia.”

Georgia’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, responded to that with his own social media post declaring, “The 2020 election in Georgia was not stolen. For nearly three years now, anyone with evidence of fraud has failed to come forward – under oath – and prove anything in a court of law.”

Campaigning in Iowa, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he agreed with Kemp. And so did former Vice President Mike Pence, who said on Wednesday, “The Georgia election was not stolen.”

Georgia’s 2020 presidential election has been thoroughly examined and re-examined. The results were confirmed in three separate counts, include a hand count of the nearly five million ballots cast in the state. Under Attorney General Bill Barr, Trump’s own Justice Department looked at allegations made by Trump. So did the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.