Trump claims 2020 election 'rigged' at least 107 times in six months as midterms loom

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has repeated his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him at least 107 times over the past six months, keeping the grievance at the center of his political messaging even as he faces new challenges stemming from the war with Iran and approaching midterm elections.

A Reuters review of his public events, interviews, and social media posts found that Trump devotes near-daily attention to the issue, often raising it in bursts. In one Saturday in April, amid a fragile ceasefire with Iran, he posted allegations about the 2020 election seven times on his Truth Social account. He lost that race to former President Joe Biden.

Trump has also repeated his claims in at least six meetings with world leaders, during two celebrations for professional sports teams, and at White House holiday observances including Hanukkah and Christmas. In unscripted remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, he said “people will soon be prosecuted for what they did,” referring to the 2020 election.

He reiterated the allegations at a White House picnic for lawmakers last week and again in remarks to reporters before boarding Air Force One.

“If we had Jesus Christ come down and count the votes, I would have won California,” Trump said, referring to the reliably Democratic state he lost by wide margins in both 2020 and 2024. “But it’s a rigged vote.”

While aides and interviewers often dismiss his remarks, critics say they reflect persistent grievance politics. His sustained focus on 2020 also signals a broader strategy aimed at shaping voting policy debates, reinforcing party loyalty, and energizing supporters ahead of November elections that will determine control of Congress, according to two White House officials and two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Election experts say the narrative also lays groundwork for future political and legal challenges.

“He’s not looking back; this is about the midterms,” said Alexandra Chandler, an election expert at the nonpartisan group Protect Democracy. “He’s trying to create a fog of disinformation. That way, if federal interference increases, the public will not be as surprised.”

In April, Trump also called Virginia’s congressional redistricting process “rigged,” without presenting evidence of fraud, despite having launched a broader national redistricting push months earlier.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement that the president remains committed to election integrity, including maintaining accurate voter rolls and preventing unlawful registrations.

Trump’s rhetoric continues to resonate with many Republican voters. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in April found that 63% of Republican respondents believe his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen, a figure that has remained largely stable in recent years.

The same poll showed that 82% of Republicans believe large numbers of fraudulent ballots are cast by non-citizens, compared with 9% of Democrats and 21% of independents who believe Trump lost due to wrongdoing. Concerns about non-citizen voting were also higher among Republicans than other groups.

However, multiple courts, state election officials, and independent reviews have found no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

Despite this, Trump last year appointed an election-security official to re-examine his 2020 loss. Those efforts have produced no new evidence, according to prior reporting. Administration officials have also explored restrictions on voting machines used in a majority of U.S. states and considered federal involvement in election administration, according to reports.

His claims intensified in December after he moved to pardon Tina Peters, a former Colorado county clerk convicted of tampering with voting machines following the 2020 election. He has also renewed calls for stricter voting laws, including proof-of-citizenship requirements and limits on mail-in voting.

While several of those proposals have stalled in Congress, some Republican-led states have adopted similar measures. Legal challenges against federal actions to restrict voting access are ongoing.

Some Republicans, however, have begun to push back.

RightCount, a group of Republicans in battleground states, has relaunched efforts to defend state-run election systems. Former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Trump supporter and member of the group, said the repeated claims ignore established findings.

“All the accusations that have been made have been refuted, but he doesn’t want to listen,” Brewer said.

After losing a recent Republican primary in Louisiana, Sen. Bill Cassidy criticized Trump’s election rhetoric in his concession speech, urging acceptance of certified results.

“When you participate in democracy, sometimes it doesn’t turn out the way you want it to,” Cassidy said. “But you don’t pout. You don’t whine. You don’t claim the election was stolen.” -Reporting by Bo Erickson; Additional reporting by Nandita Bose; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Deepa Babington/Reuters