Fact Sheet: The Truth about Trump’s 'Big Lie'

Trump refusing to concede the 2020 election undermined the very basis of our democracy our founders fought for, going against the peaceful transition of power that was established by George Washington and considered his single greatest contribution to our nation.  

Judges in over 60 court cases across the US, including many appointed by Trump and other Republican presidents, ruled that there was not widespread fraud during the 2020 election. No claims of substantial election fraud have survived legal scrutiny. Many Trump-appointed judges dismissed his claims as meritless. The investigations only uncovered a handful of instances of inappropriate votes that were split across both parties. 

In addition to those court cases, Trump’s Former Attorney General, Bill Barr, investigated his claims and found no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

Trump’s Department of Justice and an arm of Homeland Security investigated his claims and found no evidence of widespread fraud in the election.

In Michigan, a 2021 GOP-led state Senate investigation concluded there was no widespread or systemic fraud and urged the state attorney general to consider probing people who have made baseless allegations about the results to raise money or publicity “for their own ends.” The GOP-led state Senate Oversight Committee published its entire 55-page report, stating that citizens should be confident that the election’s outcome represents the “true results.” 

Chairman of the committee, Michigan Republican Ed McBroom, went on This American Life to try to help his constituents understand and believe the investigation results. LISTEN to his interview HERE

Furthermore, experts hired by the Trump campaign to identify instances of voter fraud in the 2020 election did not find fraud that would have changed the results. Ken Block, hired by Trump in 2020, stated unequivocally that the 2020 presidential election was not stolen and that there was no evidence of voter fraud sufficient to change the outcome of the election.

“I am the expert who was hired by the Trump campaign,” Block wrote. “What these claims don’t take into account is that voter fraud is detectable, quantifiable and verifiable. I have yet to see anyone offer up ‘evidence’ of voter fraud from the 2020 election that provides these three things. If voter fraud had impacted the 2020 election, it would already have been proven. Maintaining [Trump’s] lies undermines faith in the foundation of our democracy.”

In addition to the Senate GOP’s investigations, more than 250 bipartisan election audits were conducted in Michigan. These audits each and collectively confirmed the integrity and accuracy of Michigan’s 2020 general election, concluding that Biden won in Michigan by over 150,000 votes.

Investigations proved the following allegations to be false:

Ø  Antrim County initially mistakenly showed a local victory for Biden over Trump. After investigation, the finding was attributed to human error, not any problems with machines, and corrected the finding. A hand recount turned up no signs of irregularities.

Ø  Trump pressured canvassers not to certify the election results in Detroit where Republicans were falsely claiming that tens of thousands of fraudulent absentee ballots were “dumped” at Detroit’s counting center after the polls closed. In fact, those ballots had been submitted throughout Election Day in drop boxes, in the mail and at clerk’s offices.

Ø  Dead people voted - FALSE

Ø  Hundreds of thousands of unsolicited absentee ballots were mailed to Michigan voters – FALSE

Ø  Absentee ballots were counted multiple times – FALSE

This past September, Trump admitted to attempting to overthrow our electoral system. Trump is currently facing charges in Washington, D.C. and a separate slate of charges in Georgia for election interference. Trump’s lies about the election led to the violent attempted insurrection Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump finally admitted, also in September, that he lost the election in 2020 with this statement: "… I got millions more votes than [2016] and lost by a whisker."

Trump and GOP candidates running throughout the country have lied to all of us, over and over. This lie has led to the division of our country and could still, to this day, lead to civil war. It has divided families and destroyed relationships.

“Donald Trump and his allies and supporters are a clear and present danger to American democracy,” said Republican-appointed Judge J Michael Luttig.  “A stake was driven through the heart of American democracy on January 6, 2021, and our democracy today is on a knife’s edge.”

Click on the links above to read further.