In Saginaw, Trump reiterates claims that the 2020 election was rigged amid federal court action
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Former President Donald Trump doubled down on claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged during a Thursday rally outside Saginaw.
His remarks came one day after a revelatory 165-page motion was unsealed in federal court outlining the prosecution’s assertions that Trump attempted to overrule the will of the people in the 2020 election through various plots in battleground states like Michigan.
The crowd of thousands at the rally on Saginaw Valley State University’s campus erupted into cheers as Trump called on Republicans in Michigan to ensure their turnout at the polls was “too big to rig.”
“Last time, we did great in 2016, a lot of people don’t know we did much better in 2020. … It was a rigged election,” Trump said.
Michigan chose Trump over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016 by less than 11,000 votes, but the swing state went for President Joe Biden over Trump in 2020 by over 154,000 votes.
The documents unsealed in a federal court case against Trump Wednesday offer insight on how the prosecution is planning to contend with the U.S. Supreme Court’s July ruling that U.S. presidents have broad immunity from criminal charges — which sapped momentum from efforts to prosecute Trump for crimes around efforts to toss out the results of the 2020 election so he could retain the presidency.
Although the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court, which has three Trump appointees, ruled that U.S. presidents should be granted full immunity for their official “core constitutional” acts, the court said there would be no immunity for unofficial acts.
Now-released court documents outline special counsel Jack Smith’s plan for prosecution to create a timeline of Trump’s “private criminal conduct” where Trump would have to stand trial “as would any other citizen.”
“Working with a team of private co-conspirators, the defendant acted as a candidate when he pursued multiple criminal means to disrupt, through fraud and deceit, the government function by which votes are collected and counted — a function in which the defendant, as President, had no official role,” Smith wrote.
Smith made several allegations involving Michigan, including Trump pressuring Republican leadership in Michigan’s Legislature to find evidence of mass voter fraud in 2020 and asking other political allies to distribute false information about the election.
Smith further argues that Trump and a “co-conspirator” “tried to sow confusion” as votes were being counted in Democratic-dominated Detroit at the former TCF Center in Detroit.
According to Smith’s filing, when a colleague told the co-conspirator that efforts to claim Trump had received more votes than he did in Detroit would lead to a situation similar to the “Brooks Brothers Riot,” a violent Republican-led effort to shut down the vote count in Florida after the 2000 presidential election, the co-conspirator said, “Make them riot.”
After the court filing became publicly available, Trump told Michiganders Thursday that if he hadn’t won in 2020, he wouldn’t be running again, he’d be “on the beaches of Monte Carlo.”
“But if I had my choice of being here with you today or being on some magnificent beach with the waves hitting me in the face, I would take you every single time,” Trump told the crowd.
For nearly an hour-and-a-half, Trump outlined his plans to make life better for Michiganders and other Americans through strict border policies, tax cuts and major tariffs on goods made outside of the U.S.
A "Pet Lives Matter" sign sits outside a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan ahead of President Donald Trump speaking on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
An attendee wearing an "ATF IS GAY" shirt gets line on Saginaw Valley State University campus ahead of a rally for former President Donald Trump in Michigan on Oct. 3, 2024 | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Attendees prepare to hear former President Donald Trump speak at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Michigan GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers (right) speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan alongside former President Donald Trump (left) on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Michigan GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers (right) shakes the hand of former President Donald Trump (left) at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Michigan Republican Party Chairman Pete Hoekstra speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan ahead of President Donald Trump on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
An attendee records former President Donald Trump as he speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
The line starts to grow outside Saginaw Valley State University ahead of a rally for former President Donald Trump in Michigan on Oct. 3, 2024 | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Attendees outside a Trump rally at Saginaw Valley State University, Oct. 3, 2024 | Anna Liz Nichols
A vendor outside a Trump rally at Saginaw Valley State University, Oct. 3, 2024 | Anna Liz Nichols
Security talks to one of the people involved in the fight outside a Trump rally at Saginaw Valley State University, Oct. 3, 2024 | Anna Liz Nichols
Michigan GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers (right) speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan alongside former President Donald Trump (left) on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Michigan GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan ahead of President Donald Trump on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Paul Junge, a Republican candidate for Michigan’s 8th congressional district speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan ahead of President Donald Trump on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Attendees prepare to hear former President Donald Trump speak at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Watersmeet) speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan ahead of President Donald Trump on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Watersmeet) speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan ahead of President Donald Trump on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
A child waves United States flags as former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Watersmeet) speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan ahead of President Donald Trump on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Paul Junge, a Republican candidate for Michigan’s 8th congressional district speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan ahead of President Donald Trump on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Attendees prepare to hear former President Donald Trump speak at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
A child waves United States flags as former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Saginaw Valley State University campus in Michigan on Oct. 3, 2024 ahead of the presidential election | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols
By placing mile-high taxes on imported goods, like a 100% tariff on cars made in Mexico, Trump said he’s going to force other countries to make their products in the U.S. if companies want competitive access to buyers in the U.S.
“We’re going to make so much money. We’re going to bring back so much business and I think this state will be the biggest beneficiary,” Trump said, noting Michigan is a historic automotive manufacturing hub.
However, Trump’s opponent for the Oval Office, Vice President Kamala Harris, said Trump doesn’t have an actual plan for economic success for Americans, sharing in an interview with MSNBC last month that part of the problem with Trump is he throws out ideas for sweeping change and doesn’t think about how it impacts people.
“… [I]n all sincerity, he’s just not very serious about how he thinks about some of these issues and one must be serious, and have a plan, any real plan that’s not just about some talking point, ending in an exclamation at a political rally, but actually putting the thought into what will be the return on the investment. What will be the economic impact on everyday people?” Harris said.
Michigan has a choice, as early voting has started, Trump said. The state has an opportunity to help establish a “golden age” after the “catastrophic” leadership of Harris as vice president.
“If you want your incomes to plummet, your net worth to collapse, your tax bills to soar, your jobs to disappear, then vote for Lyin’ Kamala to be the tax queen, to be the president. Because if you want to do all those things where your country goes to hell, where your country ends up in a 1929-style depression, then vote for Kamala,” Trump said.
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