Trump reportedly told an ally he knows he lost the 2020 election but wants revenge on Democrats for doubting he properly won in 2016
- President Donald Trump told an ally that he had accepted his loss in the 2020 election but wanted to avenge Democrats for disputing the legitimacy of his 2016 win, CNN reported.
- President-elect Joe Biden was projected to defeat Trump two weeks ago, but Trump has still not conceded or permitted his administration to brief Biden's transition team.
- The Trump campaign has tried to deny Biden victory and overturn vote counts with a string of lawsuits in several states.
- According to CNN, Trump wants to get back at former President Barack Obama and the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, for saying Russia helped him win and wants revenge for the Mueller investigation.
- Many of the Trump campaign's election lawsuits have hit a wall, with Trump and his team now launching a new plan to stall the final vote count for long enough to throw Biden's victory into doubt.
President Donald Trump told an ally that he knew he lost the 2020 election but was refusing to concede because he wanted revenge on the Democratic Party for disputing his 2016 win, CNN reported Thursday, citing a person familiar with his thinking.
After Trump's shock win in 2016, Democrats including the party's 2016 presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, and former President Barack Obama poured cold water on his achievement, saying Russia had worked to sway Americans to vote for Trump.
Trump now wants to get even and has said he is looking to get back at the Democratic Party for championing the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the Trump campaign's Russia ties, CNN reported, citing the source.
Insider and Decision Desk HQ projected Joe Biden to win the 2020 election on November 6, and other outlets made the same call November 7.
Since that time Trump has refused to concede, baselessly claimed that electoral fraud was widespread, and filed a string of lawsuits seeking to overturn the results in several states.
In recent days, Trump's business partners and friends have urged him to allow Biden and his transition team access to government resources, a source told CNN, adding that Trump declined and told them they were "absolutely wrong."
On Wednesday, The Washington Post reported that Trump and his team had given up hope of overturning the election result with their lawsuits and had settled on a new plan to stall the final vote announcement long enough to throw Biden's victory into doubt.
The change in tack comes after a number of Trump's lawsuits ran into major hurdles.
On Wednesday night, Rudy Giuliani and Marc Scaringi, two lawyers for the Trump campaign, asked a federal judge to ignore Pennsylvania voters and declare Trump the winner. Three lawyers on Trump's Pennsylvania case dropped out the day before.
And on Thursday, the Trump campaign withdrew its last lawsuit in Michigan, according to Politico.
Trump has threatened to go to the Supreme Court to overturn the election result, however, experts told Business Insider he was simply running out of time and that the Supreme Court will likely be disinterested.