Trump is laying the groundwork for challenging results for 2024 if he loses

By JILL COLVIN

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump has spent months laying the groundwork to challenge the outcome of the 2024 election if he loses — just as he did four years ago.

Rally after rally, he urges his supporters to achieve a victory that is “too big to manipulate,” telling them the only way he can lose is if the Democrats cheat. He has repeatedly declined to say whether he will accept the results, regardless of the outcome. And he claims that fraud is already happening, citing debunked claims or outrageous theories that have no basis in reality.

“The only thing that can stop us is deception. It’s the only thing that can stop us,” he said late Thursday at an event in Arizona.

Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, arrives at a campaign rally at Macomb Community College, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Warren, Michigan. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

In 2020, Trump prematurely declared victory from the White House. He launched a legal and political effort to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden that culminated in the election storming the Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2021.

Democrats fear he will do the same this year before the race is called. He would not answer a question about those Democratic concerns Friday in Dearborn, Michigan, but instead focused on attacking Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump has made election lies central to his 2024 campaign as he feverishly warned against fraud promised to accept retaliation against people he believes are standing in his way.

This year, he is being backed by a sophisticated “election integrity” operation mounted by his campaign and the Republican National Committee, which has already filed more than 130 lawsuits and signed up more than 230,000 volunteers who are being trained to work as poll watchers and poll watchers across the country. world to deploy. country on election day.

Here’s a look at Trump’s strategy to sow doubt in this year’s election and the facts behind each claim.

Voting by non-citizens

THE CLAIM: Trump has claimed, without evidencethat Democrats have allowed millions of immigrants to enter the country illegally so they can register to vote. In one interview with Newsmax in SeptemberTrump claimed such efforts were already underway.

“They are working overtime to illegally contract people to vote in the elections,” he alleged. “They are working overtime to sign and register people – many of the same people you just see crossing the border. That’s probably their original thought, because why else would they want to destroy our country?”

THE FACTS: It takes years for newcomers to become citizens, and only citizens can legally vote in federal elections. Isolated cases of non-citizens being caught trying to vote a University of Michigan student from China arrested for allegedly voting illegally – do not reflect a larger conspiracy.

Research has shown that non-citizens register and vote illegally is extremely rare and usually done by accident.

Ballots abroad

THE CLAIM: Trump has pointed to Democratic efforts to secure the votes of Americans living abroad as another opportunity for fraud. He claims they are “getting ready to cheat!” and “want to “dilute the TRUE voice of our wonderful military and their families.”

THE FACTS: The former president himself has campaigned for the votes of Americans abroad. promises to end so-called ‘double taxation’ for people who often pay taxes in the country where they live and to the US government.

Ominous warnings

THE CLAIM: Trump has begun to suggest that Harris may have access to classified information about the outcome of a race that has yet to be decided.

Since the vice president took a day off the road to conduct interviews with Telemundo and NBC, he has repeatedly suggested, “Maybe she knows something we don’t.”

Last weekend in Michigan, he suggested there was no way Harris could campaign with Beyoncé — one of the biggest stars in the world — if the race was really as close as the polls suggest.

“Number one, they cheat like hell. So maybe they know something we don’t, right?” he said. ‘Maybe they know something we don’t know, I don’t know. Why would she celebrate when you’re down? Maybe – never thought about it – maybe she knows something we don’t. But we won’t let that happen.”

THE FACTS: There is no evidence to support a Democratic conspiracy. Trump stoked fears about his own internal plans at a rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden when he looked at House Speaker Mike Johnson and talked about a “little secret” they had.

Johnson, before he became speaker, took the lead in crafting a widely publicized order to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss, and repeated some of the wilder conspiracy theories to explain his loss.

Asked about Trump’s reference to a “little secret,” Johnson issued a statement that said: “A secret, by definition, should not be shared – and I have no intention of sharing this secret.” (He later told an audience it was related to “one of our get-out-the-vote tactics,” according to The Hill. Trump’s campaign released a statement noting that he had “held countless tele-rallies” to to help strengthen Republican congressional candidates.)

Towards Pennsylvania

THE CLAIM: Trump has focused his anger in recent days on Pennsylvania, a state that both campaigns consider crucial and where he says there is already cheating.

Earlier this weekhe alleged that York County, Pennsylvania, “received THOUSANDS of potentially FRAUDULENT voter registration forms and mail-in ballot applications from a third party.” He also pointed to Lancaster County, which he said was “caught with 2,600 counterfeit ballots and forms, all written by the same person. Really bad things.”

At a campaign event in Allentown on Tuesday, the former president said, “They’ve already started cheating in Lancaster. They cheated. We caught them with 2,600 votes. No, we caught them cold. 2,600 votes. Think of this, think of this. And every voice was written by the same person.”

THE FACTS: In Lancaster, County District Attorney Heather Adams, an elected Republican, said election workers have raised concerns about two ranges applications for voter registration because of what she described as numerous similarities. Officials are now examining a total of about 2,500 forms.

To be clear, Lancaster examines voter registration applications, not “votes.” Lancaster officials said some forms contained false names, suspicious handwriting, questionable signatures, incorrect addresses or other problematic details, but did not say they were all written by the same person.

York County Chief Clerk Greg Monskie confirmed this week that his county was reviewing suspect forms. County Commissioner Julie Wheeler issued a statement saying voter registration forms and ballots were part of a “large shipment of thousands of election-related materials” that the county elections office received from a third-party organization.

State officials say the discovery and investigation of the applications — not the votes — are proof that the system is working properly.

Threats of prosecution

THE CLAIM: Trump has threatened dire consequences for those who engage in what he calls “unconscionable behavior.”

In a social media post that falsely cites “the rampant deceit and deceit that has taken place by Democrats in the 2020 presidential election,” he has warned that “IF I WIN, the people who CHEATED in every sense of the word will be prosecuted. the law, which will include lengthy prison sentences.”

The messages go on to threaten “Those engaged in unconscionable behavior,” including election officials, lawyers and donors, who he says “will be hunted down, apprehended and prosecuted at a level that has unfortunately never been seen before in our country.” seen.”

THE FACTS: Judges, election officials and even Trump’s own attorney general, William Barr, all have it confirmed that there was no widespread cheating in the 2020 election.

If re-elected, Trump has vowed to go after rivals he considers “enemies from within.” He has said, among other things, that he would appoint a special prosecutor to attack Biden. That is more than a theoretical threat, as Trump, when he was president, repeatedly called for investigations into alleged political opponents.

Although the Justice Department has established controls intended to ward off political influence, Trump could appoint leaders who would facilitate the opening of cases at his request.

Associated Press writers Christine Fernando in Chicago, Adriana Gomez Licon in Dearborn, Michigan, and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

Originally published: November 2, 2024 at 11:22 AM CDT