(The Hill) — Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to scrap a news conference on the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol granted Republicans a temporary reprieve from the former president’s efforts to relitigate his 2020 election loss, even as his false claims of voter fraud continue to haunt many in the GOP ahead of the 2022 midterms.
The former president’s planned remarks stirred consternation among Republicans, including some Trump allies, who feared that the news conference would only serve to highlight one of the darkest moments of Trump’s presidency and drag his party back into a potentially damaging debate over the 2020 election and its aftermath.
But in canceling his news conference, Trump also vowed to air many of the same grievances during a high-profile rally in Arizona later this month, underscoring how his claims could continue to weigh on the party as it looks toward both the midterms and the 2024 presidential election.
“It is old news,” Saul Anuzis, a political consultant and former chair of the Michigan Republican Party. “This is the only thing the Democrats have to hang their hats on and so they’re trying to make it as big of an issue as they can.”
