MENÚ
In the November 3rd 2020 elections, Joe Biden defeated then-President Donald Trump.
Official results show that Biden got 306 electoral votes (only 270 are needed to win), and Trump got 232. Regarding popular votes, Biden got 81,283,501 votes (51.3%), while Trump got 74,223,975 (46.85%): there was a difference of more than 7 million votes. A third candidate from the Liberal Party obtained a little more than 1%.
However, since 2020, Trump and some of his followers have installed the false idea that Biden won the elections by means of fraud, influencing at least one third of the U.S. population.
According to a poll done by Monmouth University in May 2023, 30% of Americans think that Biden won by means of fraud. Another poll done by The Washington Post and the University of Maryland in December 2023 shows that the number reached 36%.
Next, we’ll explain why this claim is false.
The fraud theory was rejected in courts
Trump and his allies have started 64 judicial causes denouncing fraud and not even one court found this to be true.
There was only one judicial process in which Trump was favored, but not even then fraud could be proven: they only ordered to set aside some votes by mail in Pennsylvania. You can read more about this subject by clicking here.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) disclaimed the electoral fraud theories
“The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history,” reads a joint statement from CISA and The Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council (GCC) Executive Committee, published on November 12, 2020.
In the statement, they highlighted that election officials throughout the country had done a recount of the ballots in order to identify or amend any potential mistakes, and that it was what confirmed there was no evidence that the system had erased, lost or changed votes.
Trump’s General Attorney agreed there was no fraud
The General Sttorney back then, Bill Barr, stated in 2020 that there was no evidence of fraud “that could affect the results of the election.” Additionally, during a hearing done in 2022 by the Bipartisan Commission of the House of Representatives that investigated the Capitol attack of January 6th 2021, Barr said: “[Trump] he’s become detached from reality if he really believes this stuff [electoral fraud].”
The former General Attorney also referred to the electoral fraud theories as “bullshit.”
The idea of saying there was fraud was planned out, according to the House of Representatives’ investigation
In 2022, the final report from the House Select Committee that investigated the Capitol attack was published. It included written communications and recordings from Trump allies dating months before the elections, in which they said Trump would declare his victory no matter the results.
For example, on October 31st, 2020, Steve Banon, Trump ally, declared: “And what Trump’s gonna do is just declare victory. But that doesn't mean he’s the winner. He’s just gonna say he’s the winner. If he’s losing by night, he’s gonna sit right there and say ‘they stole it.’”
The Committee also got communications from Tom Fitton, another Trump ally, that showed that in October, he had written a winning speech including a demand to stop counting votes by mail after November 3rd. Additionally, on November 3rd, Fitton told Trump he should declare victory before all votes were counted.
Trump’s campaign team knew that fraud accusations were unfounded
The House Select Committee got testimonies and communications from the former president's legal and campaign teams through which it becomes evident that they were aware there was no evidence of fraud and that they had told this to Trump.
For example:
Bill Stepien, Trump’s campaign manager, testified and said that the campaign team did not find any evidence that could affect the result of the election.
Alex Cannon, Trump’s campaign lawyer, testified and said that he had told the White House he hadn’t found any evidence of fraud.
Jason Miller, campaign advisor, testified and said he had told Trump they had no evidence of fraud that could affect the result of the election.
“The results of the votes tell a clear story: President Trump lost. But in spite of the facts, the President had no intention to accept his defeat,” reads the Committee's report.
Since then, other Trump allies have also said there never was any evidence of fraud
In Georgia, in February 2024, the conservative group True the Vote stated before a state judge there was no evidence whatsoever to back Trump’s accusations of “ballot trafficking.” The allegations from True the Vote paved the way for the movie 2000 mules, which expanded on the conspirative theory.
Additionally, in February 2024, the conservative group Project Veritas took back their accusations of fraud in Erie, Pennsylvania, after having been sued by a Postal Service employee who they had accused as a participant of the alleged conspiracy: “Project Veritas is aware that there is no evidence or other accusations of electoral fraud happening in the Erie postal office during the 2020 presidential elections,” reads the statement. James O’Keefe, head of Project Veritas at the time, also took his accusations back.
Moreover, Fox News, who expanded the false theory of electoral fraud, was sued for defamation by the voting machines company Dominion. They agreed to pay the company 787.5 millions in April 2023.
As we’ve informed you in this article, the internal communications from Fox executives and anchors that were revealed before the trial prove that within the company, they’ve always known there was no evidence of fraud. However, this was not transmitted to their viewers after the presidential elections.
Additionally, Sidney Powell, Trump’s former lawyer who started the false theory of fraud (and who was a regular guest on Fox News), was declared guilty in October 2023 after having been accused in Georgia and criminally charged with the attempt to invalidate the results of the election in that state.
Moreover, Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York and former Trump’s lawyer, after a sue for defamation, was sentenced by a jury in December 2023 to pay $148 million dollars to two electoral employees in Atlanta accused by Giuliani, unfoundedly, of having participated in fraud. That same month, Giuliani declared bankruptcy. The ex-mayor appealed the sentence in February 2024.
Factchequeado is a verification media outlet built by a Spanish-speaking community to tackle disinformation in the United States. Do you want to be part of it? Join us and verify the content you receive by sending it to our WhatsApp +16468736087 or to factchequeado.com/whatsapp.
See also:
Por qué el voto por correo es seguro y el voto manual NO es más seguro que el automático
