More than five years later, President Donald Trump will not stop repeating lies about the 2020 election.
Trump repeated his false claims that the 2020 election was “rigged” against him during his remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday. He reiterated his grievances about losing to former President Joe Biden and questioned how any one of faith could support a Democrat.
He admitted that he wanted to win the 2020 election just for his “ego.”
“They rigged the second election. I had to win. It had a win. It needed it for my own ego. I would have had a bad ego for the rest of my now. I really have a big ego. Beating these lunatics was incredible. What a great feeling,” Trump said on Thursday.
There was no evidence of widespread voting fraud during the 2020 election. Trump’s claims of fraud during the 2020 election have been repeatedly debunked.
Trump also claimed, without evidence, that he won the popular vote during the 2016 election against Democrat Hillary Clinton. While Trump won the electoral college, he lost the popular vote by nearly 2.9 million votes.
He also lost the popular vote to Biden in the 2020 election by about 7 million votes. Trump did win the popular vote in the 2024 election by about 2.3 million votes over former Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Winning the popular vote, the first time. You know, they said I didn’t win the popular vote. I did,” Trump added.
He also accused Democrats of “cheating” in the elections without presenting any evidence to back his claims. He also criticized Democrats over their stance on voter identification laws.
“I don’t know how a person of faith can vote for a Democrat. I really don’t, and I know we have some here today, and I don’t know why they’re here, because they certainly don’t give us their vote. I certainly know that we’re not going to be convincing them to vote for a little thing called voter ID,” Trump said.
“And they do something to win. You know what it is? They cheat,” he added.
Trump has reignited his obsession with the 2020 election in recent weeks. In a recent interview with former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, Trump said he wanted Republicans to “nationalize” elections. The shocking statement sparked widespread criticism, with even some Republicans pushing back on Trump’s rhetoric.
“The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over.’ We should take over the voting in at least many, 15 places,” Trump told Bongino. “The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”
It also comes just a week after the FBI searched a warehouse near Atlanta where voter records and information about the 2020 election were stored. That search came in the wake of Trump’s repeated false claims that fraud cost him the state of Georgia during the 2020 election.
It has also escalated fears that Trump will try to interfere with the results of the 2026 midterms.
The White House has scoffed at such fears, noting that Trump did not intervene in the 2025 off-year elections despite some Democratic predictions he would. But the president’s party usually loses ground in midterm elections and Trump has already tried to tilt the fall races in his direction.
During an interview with NBC News that aired Wednesday, the president said he will trust Republican losses in the midterms “if the results are honest.” It’s a strategy Trump has regularly used ahead of elections, suggesting that a loss would only be due to some type of fraud.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.