Former President Donald Trump, after losing the 2020 general election, refused to accept the will of the voters and waged both a disinformation campaign and legal attempts at overturning those results.
President Trump laid the groundwork for these false claims of mass election fraud well in advance of the election. He also begin signaling to white supremacists groups that they needed to "Stand back and stand by,” which served as a rallying cry to these violent extremists.
Officials at local, state, federal levels of government found no evidence of fraud—yet the former President continued to repeat those false claims, including encouraging then-Vice President Pence to reject the state-certified results of the Electoral College.
President Trump was told repeatedly that Vice President Pence lacked the Constitutional and legal authority to do what the President demanded he do.
President Trump was told by his own advisors that he had no basis for his stolen election claims, yet he continued to pressure state officials to change the election results, including Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Arizona State Representative Rusty Bowers.
President Trump’s tweet inviting followers to join him at a protest on January 6th reverberated online across social media. His supporters, including far-right media personalities, saw it as a call to action. There were serious concerns among members of Congress at Twitter about anticipated violence that day.