After Democratic nominee Joe Biden won the 2020 United States presidential election, Republican nominee and then-incumbent president Donald Trump pursued an unprecedented effort to overturn the election, with support from his campaign, proxies, political allies, and many of his supporters. These efforts culminated in the January 6 Capitol attack, described by multiple sources as a self-coup d'état attempt. Trump and his allies used the "big lie" propaganda technique to promote false claims and conspiracy theories asserting that the election was stolen by means of rigged voting machines, electoral fraud and an international conspiracy. Trump pressed Department of Justice leaders to challenge the results and publicly state the election was corrupt. The attorney general, director of national intelligence, director of the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency, state and federal judges, election officials, and state governors dismissed these claims at the time.
Trump loyalists attempted to keep him in power; at the state level, they targeted legislatures with the intent of changing the results or delaying electoral vote certification at the Capitol; nationally, they promoted the idea Vice President Mike Pence could refuse to certify the results on January 6, 2021. Pence repeatedly stated the Vice President has no such authority and verified Biden and Harris as the winners. Hundreds of other elected Republicans refused to acknowledge Biden's victory, though a growing number acknowledged it over time. Trump's legal team sought to bring a case before the Supreme Court, but none of the 63 lawsuits they filed were successful. They pinned their hopes on Texas v. Pennsylvania, but on December 11, 2020, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Afterward, Trump considered ways to remain in power, including military intervention, seizing voting machines, and another appeal to the Supreme Court.
In June 2022, the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack said it had enough evidence to recommend that the Department of Justice indict Trump, and on December 19, the committee formally made the criminal referral to the Justice Department. On August 1, 2023, Trump was indicted by a D.C. grand jury for conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstructing an official proceeding, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights; he pleaded not guilty to all charges. The Office of the Special Counsel believed there was enough evidence to convict Trump. However, given existing policy against prosecuting sitting presidents, the charges were dismissed following Trump's November 2024 election. On August 14, 2023, Trump and 18 co-defendants were indicted in Fulton County, Georgia, for their efforts to overturn the election results in that state. Four pleaded guilty. As of October 2025, the others (including Trump) have not yet been tried. The investigation into those who attacked the U.S. Capitol building was the largest criminal probe in U.S. history. Over 1,500 people were charged with federal crimes; 10 Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders were convicted of seditious conspiracy. However, Trump pardoned them en masse on his first day back in office in 2025.
Trump continues to falsely insist the election was stolen, telling a group of historians in mid-2021 that the election was "rigged and lost", stating in 2022 that he should be declared president or a new election held "immediately". In 2022, Trump supporters continued their attempts to overturn the election, pushing for state legislature resolutions and new lawsuits. Legal experts said public confidence in democracy was being undermined to lay the groundwork for baselessly challenging future elections. Trump continued to make these false claims during his second presidency in 2025.
Background
Trump's 2012 accusations of electoral fraud
In the aftermath of the 2012 presidential election, in which incumbent president Barack Obama won re-election against Mitt Romney, Donald Trump tweeted that "The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy", that the election was a "total sham", and that the United States was "not a democracy".
Uncertainty over Trump accepting an electoral loss in 2016
Trump repeatedly suggested that the election was "rigged" against him, and in the final debate he cast doubt on whether he would accept the results of the election should he lose, saying "I'll keep you in suspense". His comment touched off a media and political uproar, in which he was accused of "threatening to upend a fundamental pillar of American democracy" and "rais(ing) the prospect that millions of his supporters may not accept the results on Nov. 8 if he loses". Rick Hasen of University of California, Irvine School of Law, an election-law expert, described Trump's comments as "appalling and unprecedented" and feared there could be "violence in the streets from his supporters if Trump loses". The next day Trump said, "Of course, I would accept a clear election result, but I would also reserve my right to contest or file a legal challenge in the case of a questionable result." He also stated that he would "totally" accept the election results "if I win".
The controversies surrounding the election prompted calls to improve federal election laws. The Democratic led House of Representatives passed the For the People Act on March 3, 2019, but it was blocked from being heard in the Republican-led Senate by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Uncertainty over Trump accepting an electoral loss in 2020
During the 2020 campaign, Trump indicated in Twitter posts, interviews and speeches that he might refuse to recognize the outcome of the election if he were defeated and suggested that the election would be rigged against him. In July 2020, Trump declined to state whether he would accept the results, telling Fox News anchor Chris Wallace that "I have to see. No, I'm not going to just say yes. I'm not going to say no." Trump also proposed delaying the presidential election due to COVID-19, until Americans could vote "properly, securely and safely".
Trump repeatedly claimed that if he lost the election, it was "rigged" against him and repeatedly refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power after the election. Trump also criticized mail-in voting throughout the campaign, falsely claiming that the practice contained high rates of fraud. At one point, Trump said: "We'll see what happens...Get rid of the ballots and you'll have a very peaceful – there won't be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation." Trump's statements have been described as a threat "to upend the constitutional order". In September 2020, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher A. Wray, a Trump appointee, testified under oath that the FBI has "not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it's by mail or otherwise".
A number of congressional Republicans insisted that they were committed to an orderly and peaceful transition of power, but declined to criticize Trump for his comments. On September 24, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution affirming the Senate's commitment to a peaceful transfer of power. However, on October 8 Republican senator Mike Lee tweeted "We're not a democracy" and "Democracy isn't the objective; liberty, peace, and prospefity [sic] are. We want the human condition to flourish. Rank democracy can thwart that." Trump also stated that he expected the U.S. Supreme Court to decide the election and that he wanted a conservative majority in the event of an election dispute, reiterating his commitment to quickly install a ninth justice following the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Refusal to accept 2020 electoral loss
Refusal to accept 2020 electoral loss by Donald Trump
Before results declared
At 2 am on Wednesday, November 4, 2020, with the election results still unclear, Trump held a press conference at the White House in which he stated: "This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election." The statement was condemned almost immediately. The statement was also described as having been months in the making. At 9 am on Thursday, November 5, 2020, Trump tweeted "STOP THE COUNT!" However, at that time Biden was already leading in enough states such that stopping the count would have resulted in a Biden victory. After all major news organizations declared Biden the President-elect on November 7, Trump refused to accept his loss, declaring "this election is far from over" and alleging election fraud without providing evidence. Privately, according to reporting by Maggie Haberman, he told one aide "I'm just not going to leave", and he told another aide, "We're never leaving. How can you leave when you won an election?"
After results declared
In the months between the election and Inauguration Day (January 20), Trump engaged in multiple efforts to overturn the results. He filed numerous lawsuits, urged local and state authorities to overturn the results in their jurisdiction, pressed the Justice Department to verify unsupported claims of election fraud, and worked with congressional allies to overturn the results in Congress on January 6.
He indicated that he would continue legal challenges in key states, but all were dismissed by the courts. His legal team, led by Rudy Giuliani, made numerous false and unsubstantiated assertions revolving around an international communist conspiracy, rigged voting machines, and polling place fraud to claim that the election had been stolen from Trump. Trump blocked government officials from cooperating in the presidential transition to Joe Biden. Attorney General William Barr authorized the Justice Department to initiate investigations "if there are clear and apparently credible allegations of irregularities that, if true, could potentially impact the outcome of a federal election in an individual state".
Trump and his allies encouraged state officials to throw out ballots they thought were not legally cast, challenge vote-certification processes, and overturn certified election results. In an early January 2021 phone call, he pressed the Georgia secretary of state to "find" the 11,780 votes needed to secure his victory in the state. He repeatedly urged Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to convene a special session of the legislature to overturn Biden's certified victory in the state, and he made a similar plea to the Pennsylvania Speaker of the House. On a conference call, he asked 300 Republican state legislators to seek ways to reverse certified election results in their states. Republican officials in seven states, directed by Trump's personal attorney, created fraudulent electoral certificates of ascertainment to falsely assert Trump had been reelected.
By December 30, 2020, multiple Republican members of the House and Senate indicated they would try to force both chambers to debate whether to certify the Electoral College results. Mike Pence, who as vice president would preside over the proceedings, signaled his endorsement of the effort, stating on January 4, "I promise you, come this Wednesday, we will have our day in Congress". Additionally, Trump and some supporters promoted a false "Pence card" theory that, even if Congress were to certify the results, the vice president had the authority to reject them.
After leaving office
Since leaving office, Trump has continued to insist that he won the 2020 election. He reportedly dislikes the term "former president", and his official statements refer to him as "the 45th President" or simply as "45", as on his new website, www.45office.com. During his public speeches, he insists that massive election fraud caused his loss, saying, "This was the scam of the century and this was the crime of the century" and "We won the election twice [2016 and 2020] and it's possible we'll have to win it a third time [2024]."
In a September 2023 interview with Kristen Welker for NBC's Meet the Press, Trump said, regarding the attorneys who told him he lost the election, that he "didn't respect them as lawyers" but "did respect others" who told him he won. He said that, ultimately, his effort to overturn the election results "was my decision". He maintained: "I say I won the election."
Refusal to accept 2020 electoral loss by Trump's allies and supporters
Stop the Steal
Stop the Steal is a far-right campaign and protest movement in the United States promoting the conspiracy theory that widespread electoral fraud occurred during the 2020 presidential election. Trump and his supporters have asserted, without evidence, that he is the winner of the election, and that large-scale voter and vote counting fraud took place in several swing states. The Associated Press, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Decision Desk HQ, NBC News, The New York Times, and Fox News projected Biden as the president-elect, having surpassed the 270 Electoral College votes needed to claim victory. A New York Times survey of state election officials found no evidence of significant voting fraud, nor did the Justice Department, and dozens of lawsuits filed by Trump and his proxies to challenge voting results in several states failed.
"Stop the Steal" was created by Republican political operative Roger Stone in 2016, in anticipation of potential future election losses that could be portrayed as stolen by alleged fraud. A Facebook group with that name was created during the 2020 counting of votes by pro-Trump group "Women for America First" co-founder and Tea Party movement activist Amy Kremer. Facebook removed the group on November 5, describing it as "organized around the delegitimization of the election process". It was reported to have been adding 1,000 new members every 10 seconds with 360,000 followers before Facebook shut it down. Some "Stop the Steal" Facebook groups had discussed extreme violence, incitement to violence, and other threats. CounterAction, a social media analytics firm, provided ProPublica and the Washington Post an audit of Facebook groups and posts which identified 650,000 election delegitimization posts leading up to January 6. On January 11, 2021, Facebook announced that it would remove content containing the phrase "stop the steal" from Facebook and Instagram.
Several "Stop the Steal" groups were founded by right-wing groups after Trump published tweets on Twitter encouraging his supporters to "Stop the Count". Many unorganized "Stop the Steal" groups protested in various U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C.; Detroit, Michigan; Lansing, Michigan; Las Vegas, Nevada; Madison, Wisconsin; Atlanta, Georgia; and Columbus, Ohio. Several of these protests included members of extremist groups such as the Three Percenters, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, which CNN reported was an illustration of "the thinning of a line between the mainstream right and far-right extremists".
In Michigan on December 7, 2020, "Stop the Steal" protestors gathered outside the private home of Michigan's Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to shout obscenities and chant threatening speech into bullhorns. Biden's Michigan win by 154,000 votes had been officially certified by the Michigan Board of State Canvassers in November.