Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election

Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election
Part of 2020 United States presidential election
The electoral map for the 2020 election. Blue denotes the 306 electoral votes for Biden, while red denotes the 232 electoral votes for Trump.
Date	November 11, 2020[1] – January 7, 2021
Location	Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Washington, D.C.
Caused by	Trump's false claims of election and voter fraud[2][3][4]
Goals	Pressure Mike Pence to overturn the election in favor of Trump Decertify Biden as the winner Keep Trump in power as president
Methods	Big lie Lawsuits Trump fake electors plot Conspiracy (according to federal indictment) Racketeering (according to Georgia indictment)
Resulted in	January 6 United States Capitol attack (7 deaths) Second impeachment of Donald Trump Third indictment of Donald Trump Fourth indictment of Donald Trump
Casualties
Death(s)	9
Charged	Donald Trump, Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, January 6 rioters

The attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election was a political scheme made by then President Donald Trump, who lost the 2020 U.S. presidential election to his Democratic opponent Joe Biden, the former U.S. vice president.

Trump did not accept his defeat and claimed the election was rigged and had voter fraud.^[5] This was an effort to overturn the election,^[6][7][8] with support and assistance from his campaign, proxies, political allies, and many of his supporters.

Many unsuccessful lawsuits were filed to change the election results in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan. Efforts to change the election results caused the 2021 United States Capitol Riot, which was described as an attempted coup d'état.^[9]

1. ↑ Chalfant, Morgan; Samuels, Brett (November 4, 2020). "Trump prematurely declares victory, says he'll go to Supreme Court". The Hill. Retrieved June 18, 2021.
2. ↑ Woodward, Calvin; Dale, Maryclaire (November 6, 2020). "Fact Check: Trump Fabricates Election Corruption". New England Cable News. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
3. ↑ Cite error: The named reference Crowley was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
4. ↑ Funke, Daniel (November 20, 2020). "Dozens of claims about election fraud, debunked". PolitiFact. Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
5. ↑ Multiple sources:
   • Kumar, Anita; Orr, Gabby (December 21, 2020). "Inside Trump's pressure campaign to overturn the election". Politico. Trump's efforts to cling to power are unprecedented in American history. While political parties have fought over the results of presidential elections before, no incumbent president has ever made such expansive and individualized pleas to the officials who oversee certification of the election results.
   • Sanger, David E. (November 19, 2020). "Trump's Attempts to Overturn the Election Are Unparalleled in U.S. History". The New York Times. President Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election are unprecedented in American history and an even more audacious use of brute political force to gain the White House than when Congress gave Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency during Reconstruction.
6. ↑ Multiple sources:
   • Miller, Zeke; Long, Colleen; Eggert, David (November 20, 2020). "Trump tries to leverage power of office to subvert Biden win". Associated Press. Archived from the original on November 28, 2020. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
   • Haberman, Maggie; Rutenberg, Jim; Corasaniti, Nick; Epstein, Reid J. (November 20, 2020). "Trump Targets Michigan in His Ploy to Subvert the Election". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
   • "Trump presses Georgia governor to help subvert election". MarketWatch. Associated Press. December 5, 2020. Archived from the original on December 8, 2020. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
   • "The Growing Backlash Against Trump's Efforts To Subvert The Election : Consider This from NPR". NPR. November 20, 2020. Archived from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
   • Raju, Manu; Herb, Jeremy (December 7, 2020). "House conservatives urge Trump not to concede and press for floor fight over election loss". CNN. Archived from the original on December 8, 2020. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
7. ↑ Multiple sources:
   • Snyder, Timothy (January 9, 2021). "The American Abyss". The New York Times. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
   • Ben-Ghiat, Ruth (January 26, 2021). "Opinion: Trump's big lie wouldn't have worked without his thousands of little lies". CNN.
   • Heavey, Jan Wolfe, Susan (January 25, 2021). "Trump lawyer Giuliani faces $1.3 billion lawsuit over 'big lie' election fraud claims". Reuters.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
   • Block, Melissa (January 16, 2021). "Can The Forces Unleashed By Trump's Big Election Lie Be Undone?". NPR.org.
   • Pilkington, Ed (January 24, 2021). "Donald Trump is gone but his big lie is a rallying call for rightwing extremists". The Guardian. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
8. ↑ Cite error: The named reference trump asks2 was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
9. ↑ Graham, David A. (January 6, 2021). "This Is a Coup". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on January 6, 2021. Retrieved January 6, 2021.