Trump Tried to Overturn 2020 Election Before Results Declared \ Newslooks \ Washington DC \ Mary Sidiqi \ Evening Edition \ Donald Trump prepared to challenge the 2020 election even before losing, pushing false claims of voter fraud. A newly unsealed court filing details Trump’s increasing desperation to overturn the results. The document paints a picture of a president willing to resort to crime to remain in power.
Trump Election Fraud Allegations: Quick Looks
- Early Efforts to Overturn Election: Even before the election results were announced, Trump prepared to challenge them. Advisers reported he intended to declare victory if leading early, regardless of full vote counts.
- New Evidence in Court Filing: A court filing by special counsel Jack Smith offers detailed accounts from Trump’s closest aides, depicting him as desperate and deceitful during his bid to stay in power.
- Dismissal of Accuracy Concerns: Trump is quoted saying, “The details don’t matter” when informed that his legal challenges were unfounded, revealing indifference to the truth of his fraud allegations.
- Pence’s Role and Disregard: Trump disregarded Mike Pence’s suggestion to accept the election results and considered challenging the certification process in Congress.
- Public and Private Campaigns: Trump publicly used social media to spread disinformation and privately pressured officials. He called on supporters to protest in Washington, leading to the January 6 Capitol attack.
- Use of Social Media: Prosecutors argue that Trump’s Twitter posts, which falsely claimed electoral fraud, played a role in inciting his supporters to storm the Capitol.
Deep Look
Donald Trump laid the groundwork to challenge the outcome of the 2020 presidential election before the votes were even fully counted, according to a newly unsealed court filing by special counsel Jack Smith’s team. The filing reveals that Trump knowingly spread false claims of voter fraud and resorted to illegal actions in an attempt to cling to power after his loss. These new details provide the most comprehensive glimpse yet of what prosecutors plan to prove if the case against Trump for conspiring to overturn the election proceeds to trial.
This newly public document highlights Trump’s determination to disrupt the electoral process by relying on deceit and manipulation. Although much has been previously disclosed through congressional investigations and earlier indictments, this filing adds a new dimension, citing previously unknown accounts from Trump’s closest aides. It portrays a president who became “increasingly desperate” as he watched his chances of staying in office slip away, manipulating every phase of the electoral process in an attempt to hold onto power.
One striking moment highlighted in the filing involves Trump’s response to the unfolding events on January 6, 2021. When told by an aide that Vice President Mike Pence had been rushed to safety as violent supporters stormed the Capitol, Trump reportedly responded dismissively: “So what?” In another instance, when an advisor warned that their legal team could not prove false allegations of voter fraud, Trump is quoted as saying, “The details don’t matter.”
The timing of the brief’s release, coming close to the 2024 presidential election, was opposed by Trump’s legal team, which argued that making the details public was unfair. The document was made available following a Supreme Court ruling that limited the legal protections for former presidents regarding official acts. This ruling allowed for a narrower scope of prosecution and pushed back the possibility of a trial beyond the upcoming election.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s team emphasized that Trump’s actions, though taken while he was president, were not official acts in a presidential capacity. Instead, they argue these were personal attempts to maintain power after losing the election. The filing notes, “Although the defendant was the incumbent President during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was fundamentally a private one.” This suggests that Trump’s actions were self-serving, devoid of any legitimate presidential authority.
The document also recounts Trump’s refusal to concede despite repeated rejections of his legal claims by various courts and election officials, including those from his own party. Mike Pence, the vice president at the time, urged Trump in several meetings to accept the results or at least refrain from declaring victory prematurely. Despite these warnings, Trump continued to pressure Pence and even considered using Congress to overturn the electoral outcome.
One telling aspect of the filing is the detailed recounting of Trump’s insistence on advancing claims of fraud that he privately acknowledged to be baseless. For instance, he referred to some of the claims promoted by attorney Sidney Powell as “crazy” and even alluded to the “Star Trek” series in mocking them. Nonetheless, days later, Trump publicly supported Powell’s lawsuit, showing a dissonance between his public statements and private admissions.
The prosecutors argue that Trump’s extensive use of social media was integral to his strategy of inciting unrest and delegitimizing the election. He used his Twitter account to broadcast false claims of election fraud, attack officials, and rally supporters to travel to Washington, D.C., for what would ultimately culminate in the January 6 Capitol riot. Of the more than 1,200 tweets Trump sent during the period covered in the indictment, most were related to the election, promoting unfounded claims that Pence could single-handedly reject the electoral college votes.
A key part of the special counsel’s argument involves the use of forensic evidence from Trump’s iPhone, which they believe will shed light on his actions and intentions during the Capitol attack. In their filing, they emphasize that Trump’s desperation reached its peak on the morning of January 6, when he was only hours away from the official certification of Joe Biden’s victory.
The filing also alleges that Trump preemptively discussed a plan to declare victory even before the election results were complete, thereby sowing distrust in the counting process. Advisers were instructed to find reasons to contest voting results, as demonstrated in an instance involving a campaign employee being told to contest seemingly accurate results in Michigan, pushing for litigation without substantial grounds.
The issue of Trump’s refusal to accept the election results also surfaced recently in the vice-presidential debate, highlighting the enduring relevance of this topic in the current political landscape. Democratic candidate Tim Walz condemned the violence on January 6, while Republican J.D. Vance sidestepped a direct answer on whether Trump had indeed lost.
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung has called the latest brief “falsehood-ridden” and accused the Justice Department of being weaponized against Trump in a politically motivated attack. Trump himself took to Truth Social, asserting that the case would ultimately end in his “complete victory.”
While the prospects of a trial remain uncertain, particularly if Trump wins the 2024 election, the newly released filing serves as a detailed roadmap of the evidence and testimony that prosecutors plan to present if the case reaches a jury. It highlights Trump’s apparent willingness to challenge the democratic process by any means necessary, portraying a portrait of desperation and deceit.
