Trump Revives 2020 Election Conspiracy Claims: What Happened Next

President Donald Trump revisited long-standing and baseless claims about his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden in a primetime speech on July 16. For years, Trump has maintained that the election was stolen, despite numerous courts, election officials, and investigations failing to find any evidence of fraud that altered the outcome. These claims spurred a widespread effort to challenge Biden’s win, which led to criminal investigations, legal battles, and the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Here is an overview of eight major allegations and actions associated with Trump’s attempts to contest the 2020 election results.

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Key Allegations and Actions

1. Allegations of rampant fraud with mail-in voting
   Long before the 2020 election, Trump amplified unfounded concerns about mail-in voting with misleading and conspiratorial statements. He claimed that mail carriers in West Virginia were “selling the ballots” and suggested that mail ballots were being “dumped in rivers” and “creeks.” These claims lacked any factual basis but were used to cast doubt on the integrity of the election process.

2. The Georgia “find 11,780 votes” call (Jan. 2, 2021)
   A recorded phone call in which Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger became central to the Fulton County racketeering case. In this call, Trump urged Raffensperger to “find” the 11,780 votes needed to overturn his loss in the state. This interaction highlighted the president’s direct involvement in attempting to influence election outcomes.

3. The fake electors scheme (Dec. 2020–Jan. 2021)
   Republican officials in seven states, under the direction of Trump’s personal attorney, created fraudulent electoral certificates to falsely claim that Trump had won the election. The Trump campaign coordinated sending these alternate elector certificates to Vice President Mike Pence by January 6, in time for the congressional certification of electors. Kenneth Chesebro, one of the architects of the scheme, later pleaded guilty in Georgia.

4. Pressure on state officials and legislatures
   Trump repeatedly urged Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to hold a special session of the legislature to overturn Biden’s certified victory in the state. He also made similar requests to the speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. On a conference call, Trump asked 300 Republican state legislators to explore ways to reverse certified election results in their respective states. Similar pressure was exerted on Michigan officials at the White House.

More: Trump’s speech tested TV networks. How they handled his election fraud allegations

5. The Justice Department pressure campaign

Trump began baselessly questioning the legitimacy of the election soon after losing, and as Trump pushed for probes of the 2020 election, he called Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen almost daily. A draft DOJ letter urged Georgia’s legislature to convene a special session over the election but Rosen and his deputy refused to sign it, and it was never sent.

6. Plans related to foreign interference and seize voting machines

A December 18, 2020, memo proposed that the Trump administration seek evidence that there had been foreign interference in favor of Biden and laid out a plan for Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller to use National Security Agency and Defense Department powers to seize phone and email records. The then-President’s team also developed plans to have federal authorities seize voting machines from states where the election had been closely contested but won by Biden.

7. The Eastman “president of the Senate” strategy

John Eastman’s plan for Pence to reject or delay counting electoral votes Jan. 6, later described in the House Jan. 6 Committee’s final report, identified lawyer Kenneth Chesebro as the plot’s original architect of the parallel fake-electors track.

8. January 6 and the Capitol riot

On the day Congress was set to certify the Electoral College results, Jan. 6, 2021, Trump spoke at the “Save America Rally” that began hours earlier on the Ellipse, a park near the White House. Trump spoke to his supporters for more than an hour, insisting that the election had been stolen.

“Our country has had enough,” Trump said. “We will not take it anymore, and that’s what this is all about. To use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal.”