Former President Donald J. Trump told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Wednesday that he would not commit to accepting the results of the 2024 election because he reiterated his lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him. .
“If everything is honest, I’m willing to accept the outcome,” Trump said, according to the Journal Sentinel. “If not, we must fight for our country’s rights.”
In an interview with Time magazine published Tuesday, he also suggested his victory was inevitable and dismissed questions about November’s political violence.
When asked what would happen if he lost, he said: It’s always about the fairness of elections. ”
Mr. Trump’s persistent and fraudulent claims that the 2020 election was unfair are central to his efforts to overturn his loss to President Biden, and on January 6, 2021, a mob of his supporters believed so. There was also a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol. his claim. Trump currently faces dozens of felonies related to these events.
Trump’s vow to “fight for our nation’s rights” also echoes his Jan. 6 Ellipse speech, in which he told his supporters, “If we don’t fight like hell, there will be no war.” he said. It’s our country now,” he said, calling on his supporters to march to the Capitol.
As he campaigns in battleground states this year, Trump has repeatedly sought to sow doubts about the integrity of the fall election, repeating many of the same lies he used to attack the integrity of the 2020 election. I’ve been doing this. Trump has regularly made baseless claims in the months before votes were cast that Democrats were likely to cheat to win.
“Democrats rigged the 2020 presidential election, but we will not allow the 2024 presidential election, the most important day of our lives, to be rigged,” Trump said at a rally in Freeland, Michigan. said.
The Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
For years, Trump has promoted the lie that he won Wisconsin in 2020, and he did so again in the Journal Sentinel interview. After January 6, 2021, and even years after leaving office, he challenged House Speaker Robin Vos, the top Republican in the state Legislature, to overturn Trump’s loss in the state and has repeatedly pressed to impeach the independent leader of the United States. of the election.
More than 1,250 people have been charged with crimes in connection with the January 6 attack, and hundreds have been convicted. Trump said in his recent interview that he would “absolutely” consider pardoning everyone convicted of crimes related to the Capitol attack. A bipartisan Senate report found at least seven people died in connection with the attack.
The former president and his allies also installed election deniers in influential positions in campaign and Republican Party institutions. In March, Trump’s new allies in the Republican National Committee leadership appointed Christina Bobb, a former host on the far-right One America News Network, as senior adviser on election integrity. did. A self-proclaimed conspiracy theorist, she has relentlessly promoted her false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
Bob was indicted last week on charges related to the defendants’ efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Arizona, along with all the fake electors who acted on behalf of Trump in Arizona and elsewhere. Arizona.
The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee have taken an aggressive approach to “election integrity” (a broad term often used by Republicans to cast doubt on elections they lost) as central to their efforts heading into November. It’s here.
Last month, the commission announced plans to train and deploy more than 100,000 volunteers and lawyers to monitor and aggressively challenge election processes in battleground states.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump said at a rally in Freeland that the Trump campaign and national and state Republicans are seeking advice from “some of the most talented lawyers and other experts in the country to ensure what happened in 2020 never happens again.” We will form a team.” ”
“You know what happened in 2020, I’m going to secure the election,” Trump said Wednesday at a rally in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Trump lost Wisconsin by more than 20,000 votes.
