#1: Subverting the 2020 election
There is broad agreement among experts that Trump’s most severe abuse of power was his relentless effort to undermine the 2020 election and overturn the legitimate results.
Michael Paulsen, a conservative legal scholar and professor at the University of St. Thomas, in Minnesota, called it a “form of a political coup d’état against our Constitution.”
Throughout the 2020 campaign, Trump spread provably false disinformation about the voting process. He even floated the idea of unconstitutionally delaying the election, leading to a bipartisan rebuke.
After Trump lost, he falsely claimed victory and pressured election officials in battleground states to fraudulently throw out millions of votes for President Joe Biden. The most memorable example was Trump’s hour-long call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, when he harangued the GOP official to “find” just enough votes to nullify Biden’s narrow victory in that state.
Trump’s legal team filed dozens of meritless lawsuits alleging fraud, which were rejected by a bipartisan array of federal and state judges, and the Supreme Court. When these efforts failed, Trump unsuccessfully tried to coerce then-Vice President Mike Pence to unlawfully override the Electoral College process and block Biden’s victory in Congress.
SUBVERTING THE ELECTION
Fact check: Trump lies about voter fraud while states, CDC encourage voting-by-mail as pandemic-friendly option
Trump stages corrosive attempt to undermine votes as his path to 270 evaporates
In call, Trump demands Georgia officials ‘find’ votes to tilt election
Pence faces pressure from Trump to thwart Electoral College vote
“Nothing remotely compares to this,” said Akhil Amar of Yale Law School, who is among the most-cited constitutional scholars in the country. “His actions since the election have threatened the very existence of our constitutional democracy. This looms large in the history of not just this administration, but the history of America. This is what history will remember most harshly.”
Along the way, the Trump administration dragged its feet on the formal transition of power, which was delayed for weeks while Trump refused to acknowledge defeat. Biden said his team was met with “obstruction” from Trump appointees at the Pentagon and White House. Trump’s efforts to undermine the transition are unprecedented in modern American history, the experts said.
“Trump has put more pressure on the integrity of the election process than any individual in modern American history. There has never been anything on this scale,” said Rick Hasen, a former CNN analyst and election law expert who teaches at the University of California, Irvine.
There is broad agreement among experts that Trump’s most severe abuse of power was his relentless effort to undermine the 2020 election and overturn the legitimate results.
Michael Paulsen, a conservative legal scholar and professor at the University of St. Thomas, in Minnesota, called it a “form of a political coup d’état against our Constitution.”
Throughout the 2020 campaign, Trump spread provably false disinformation about the voting process. He even floated the idea of unconstitutionally delaying the election, leading to a bipartisan rebuke.
After Trump lost, he falsely claimed victory and pressured election officials in battleground states to fraudulently throw out millions of votes for President Joe Biden. The most memorable example was Trump’s hour-long call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, when he harangued the GOP official to “find” just enough votes to nullify Biden’s narrow victory in that state.
Trump’s legal team filed dozens of meritless lawsuits alleging fraud, which were rejected by a bipartisan array of federal and state judges, and the Supreme Court. When these efforts failed, Trump unsuccessfully tried to coerce then-Vice President Mike Pence to unlawfully override the Electoral College process and block Biden’s victory in Congress.
SUBVERTING THE ELECTION
Fact check: Trump lies about voter fraud while states, CDC encourage voting-by-mail as pandemic-friendly option
Trump stages corrosive attempt to undermine votes as his path to 270 evaporates
In call, Trump demands Georgia officials ‘find’ votes to tilt election
Pence faces pressure from Trump to thwart Electoral College vote
“Nothing remotely compares to this,” said Akhil Amar of Yale Law School, who is among the most-cited constitutional scholars in the country. “His actions since the election have threatened the very existence of our constitutional democracy. This looms large in the history of not just this administration, but the history of America. This is what history will remember most harshly.”
Along the way, the Trump administration dragged its feet on the formal transition of power, which was delayed for weeks while Trump refused to acknowledge defeat. Biden said his team was met with “obstruction” from Trump appointees at the Pentagon and White House. Trump’s efforts to undermine the transition are unprecedented in modern American history, the experts said.
“Trump has put more pressure on the integrity of the election process than any individual in modern American history. There has never been anything on this scale,” said Rick Hasen, a former CNN analyst and election law expert who teaches at the University of California, Irvine.
