Assault on Election Infrastructure: Pressuring State Officials, Calling for Termination of Constitutional Rules, and Encouraging Legislatures to Override the Popular Vote
Tier 3Documented2020-11-03 to 2022-12-03
Factual Summary
Following his loss in the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump undertook a sustained campaign to overturn the results by pressuring state election officials, encouraging state legislatures to override the popular vote, and ultimately calling for the "termination" of constitutional provisions governing elections. These actions targeted the machinery of American elections at every level, from individual officeholders to the constitutional framework itself.
Trump personally pressured state election officials in multiple states to change their certified results. The most extensively documented instance occurred on January 2, 2021, when Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and urged him to "find 11,780 votes," the exact number needed to overturn Biden's victory in Georgia. During the hour-long call, which was recorded and published by The Washington Post, Trump made false claims about election fraud, threatened vague legal consequences, and told Raffensperger that it would be "a big risk" for him not to comply. Raffensperger rejected Trump's demands, telling the president that his data was wrong.
Beyond Georgia, Trump contacted or publicly pressured election officials in Arizona, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. In Michigan, Trump invited Republican state legislators to the White House on November 20, 2020, in an effort to persuade them to appoint pro-Trump electors in defiance of the state's popular vote. The legislators declined to do so. In Pennsylvania, Trump called Republican state legislators and publicly urged them to override the certified results. Trump's legal team also appeared before state legislatures in Arizona and other states, presenting discredited claims of voter fraud.
Trump and his allies developed the "fake electors" scheme, in which slates of Trump-supporting electors in seven states that Biden won submitted fraudulent certificates claiming to be the state's legitimate electors. These false certificates were then submitted to the National Archives and to Congress as part of the effort to disrupt the January 6, 2021, certification of the Electoral College results.
On December 3, 2022, more than a year after leaving office, Trump posted on Truth Social: "A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution." The post called for the 2020 election to be overturned and Trump reinstated as president. The statement was condemned by members of both parties, including Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who said: "Anyone seeking the presidency who thinks that the Constitution could somehow be 'terminated' or suspended has lost the confidence of the American people." The House introduced a resolution condemning the statement. Nine out of ten elected Republicans remained silent.
Primary Sources
1. Audio recording and transcript of Trump-Raffensperger phone call, January 2, 2021 (published by The Washington Post)
2. Trump Truth Social post, December 3, 2022 (archived)
3. H.Res.1527, 117th Congress: "Condemning former President Donald J. Trump's calls to terminate the Constitution"
4. Fraudulent electoral certificates from Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, submitted to the National Archives, December 2020
Corroborating Sources
1. Washington Post: "Trump demands Georgia secretary of state 'find' enough votes to hand him win," January 3, 2021
2. CNN: "Trump calls for the termination of the Constitution in Truth Social post," December 3, 2022
3. NPR: "McConnell criticizes Trump's calls to terminate the Constitution," December 6, 2022
4. ProPublica: "The Long Odds Facing Trump's Attempts to Get State Legislatures to Override Election Results," December 4, 2020
5. CREW: "9 out of 10 Republicans silent on Trump's calls to terminate the Constitution," December 2022
Counterarguments and Context
Trump and his supporters argued that the 2020 election was marred by widespread fraud and that his actions were legitimate efforts to ensure election integrity. They characterized the call to Raffensperger as a request for a proper investigation rather than a demand to fabricate votes. Trump later denied that his Truth Social post called for terminating the Constitution, writing on the platform that the media was misrepresenting his words. His defenders argued that the post was rhetorical hyperbole rather than a literal policy proposal. Supporters of the legislative outreach efforts argued that state legislatures have constitutional authority over the selection of electors and that engaging with legislators was lawful. However, the Raffensperger call was recorded and speaks for itself: Trump asked a state official to "find" a specific number of votes. The Truth Social post explicitly referenced "termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution." The fake elector scheme resulted in criminal charges against multiple participants in multiple states. Taken together, these actions constituted an attack on the election infrastructure through which democratic governance operates.
Author's Note
This entry is classified as Tier 3 because the key events are documented through audio recordings, archived social media posts, official congressional records, and the fraudulent electoral certificates themselves. Some aspects of the broader effort, including the fake electors scheme, have resulted in criminal charges documented in separate entries. This entry focuses on the systemic assault on election processes and constitutional governance rather than any single criminal act.