Everything You Need to Know about Trump's Federal Election Interference Case
Anas Yousuf • June 24, 2024
During the time period between the 2020 election and the Capitol riot of January 6, Trump amassed a campaign in order to subvert Joe Biden’s victory. We’ll take a closer look as to how Trump and his team spread false information about voter fraud, tried to undermine voting results in states that Biden won, tried to gather false electors, and pressured former Vice President Mike Pence to toss out legitimate voting results. Finally, these actions led to the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol and halted the transfer of power.
Trump’s Attempts to Overturn the Election
Prior to the 2016 election, Trump sowed seeds of distrust among the public with tweets stating that the election was rigged to win for the Democrats. One main individual who echoed these statements was Trump’s legal advisor Rudy Guiliani. Now, we know that Trump prepared arguments in case he lost in the election and even enlisted conservative activist and lawyer Cleta Mitchell to help him overturn the election “if necessary.” In a public speech, Trump told reporters that he would be “going in with lawyers” if the election wasn’t in his favor.
Trump’s Dismay
On Election Day, polls displayed Trump to be in the lead. However, it is important to note that most of his voters went in person, whereas a majority of Biden’s voters used mail-in ballots. That is why when the votes were counted the second day, Biden had a sudden rise in votes and in fact was ahead of Trump.
Trump declared in an election speech at 2 a.m. that he had already won the election and that the mail-in ballots were fraudulent. As Trump was informed that he was on pace to lose the election, fear was extremely high among White House officials as they feared an uproar caused by Republicans.
What Did Trump Do After He Lost?
Immediately, Trump started working on reversing the election. Known as the Trump fake electors plot, he tried to draft fraudulent certificates of ascertainment that affirmed Trump as the winner of the election. Mainly carried out by his lawyer Giuliani, they claimed that the election had multiple “irregularities” and that Trump should be the President of the United States while it was sorted out. Although many states were targeted in this plot, around seven states certified Biden’s victories.
This scheme also involved Trump forcing his Vice President, Mike Pence, to count “fake votes” and declare Trump as the president.
For the next few months, Trump and his legal team made calls to multiple states, asking them to “look into” the election votes and reverse the results, granting Trump victory. One such call was to Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger. This one was unique since he recorded the call and subsequently released it to the public. Multiple states refused to abide by Trump’s request since they deemed it simply wrong.
Six weeks after the election loss, Trump went on Twitter and urged his followers to protest in Washington D.C. This would eventually lead to the well-known Capitol raid of January 6, 2021. More information can be found here.
Charges
Trump was found guilty of four charges:
- Conspiracy to defraud the United States
- Conspiracy to corrupt and impede the January 6th congressional proceeding
- Obstruction of and attempt to obstruct January 6th congressional proceeding
- Conspiracy to obstruct the right to vote and have one’s vote counted
What Now?
Donal Trump has appealed for immunity (more information can be found here), however, it was denied by the Supreme Court. This is one of four indictments that former President Trump has received. Stay updated as to whether or not Trump will be forced to attend jail time or receive other punishments for his crimes.