National

Trump's top 2020 election fraud claims and actions

By Terry Moseley USA TODAY

July 17, 2026 12:25 AM

President Donald Trump speaks to his supporters at the Save America Rally on the Ellipse near the White House in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. Later that day, as Congress was certifying the votes of state electors, thousands stormed the U.S. Capitol in protest. Yuri Gripas Abaca Press/TNS

President Donald Trump revisited long-running and unfounded claims about his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden in a primetime address on Thursday.

For years, Trump has claimed the election was stolen despite courts, election officials and investigations finding no evidence that fraud changed the outcome. Those allegations fueled an extensive campaign to contest Biden’s victory, culminating in criminal investigations, court battles and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Here’s a look at eight of the most significant claims and actions tied to Trump’s efforts to contest the 2020 election results.

1. Claims of rampant fraud with mail-in voting

Even before the 2020 election, Trump ramped up unfounded allegations on mail-in voting with misleading and conspiratorial statements claiming mail carriers in West Virginia were “selling the ballots” to arguing that mail ballots are being “dumped in rivers” and “creeks.”

2. The Georgia ‘find 11,780 votes’ call (Jan. 2, 2021)

Trump’s recorded call pressuring Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger later became the centerpiece of the Fulton County racketeering case. 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.

3. The fake electors scheme (Dec. 2020–Jan. 2021)

Republican officials in seven states, directed by Trump’s personal attorney, created fraudulent electoral certificates of ascertainment to falsely assert Trump had been reelected. The Trump campaign coordinated sending the alternate elector certificates to Vice President Mike Pence by Jan. 6, in time for the congressional certification of electors. Architect Kenneth Chesebro later pleaded guilty in Georgia.

4. Pressure on state officials and legislatures

Trump repeatedly urged Georgia Gov. 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 speaker of the Pennsylvania state House. On a conference call, he asked 300 Republican state legislators to seek ways to reverse certified election results in their states. Similar pressure was applied to Michigan officials at the White House.

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 to claim 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 on 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.”

Joey Garrison, Bart Jansen and Josh Meyer contributed to this report.