Former US president Donald Trump has cancelled a news conference he had scheduled for 6 January, the one-year anniversary of his supporters' deadly attack on the US Capitol.
Mr Trump said in a statement he would instead discuss many of the "topics" he would have addressed at the news conference at a rally in Arizona on 15 January.
The statement also again pushed his conspiracy theory that "fraud" accounted for his election defeat to Joe Biden, calling it "the Crime of the Century."
Mr Trump said he was cancelling the event at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida "in light of the total bias and dishonesty" of the congressional committee probing the assault by his supporters, and of the media.
Thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on 6 January, 2021, in the worst assault on Congress since the War of 1812.
Fuelled by Mr Trump's false claims that his November 2020 presidential election defeat was the result of widespread fraud, the rioters tried to stop Congress from certifying Mr Biden's victory.
One police officer who responded to the scene died the day after the attack, while four others who guarded the Capitol died later by suicide.
About 140 police officers were injured during the hours-long attack and four rioters died. More than 700 people have been charged with joining in the assault.
On Thursday, Mr Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will speak from inside the Capitol's Statuary Hall.
"He'll speak to the historical significance of January 6, what it means for the country one year later," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday of Mr Biden's speech.
Congress will later hold a prayer vigil.
With AFP.
