Fact-checking Donald Trump’s claims about the 2020 election during his interview with Joe Rogan

In a three-hour interview with podcaster Joe Rogan — a conversation that lasted even longer than one of Donald Trump’s rally speeches — the former president repeated lies about the outcome of the 2020 election.

The conversation took place less than two weeks before Election Day and ranged from claims about life on mars to illegal immigration to his plan to impose tariffs on everyday goods.

Here we will fact check what Trump said about the 2020 election.

“I won the second choice” in 2020.

Pants on fire!

Joe Biden earned his victory by winning more votes in the Electoral College. Biden received 306 electoral votes compared to Trump’s 232. Biden’s path to victory included the battleground states of Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Although the popular vote does not determine who wins the presidential election, Biden received about 7 million more votes nationally than Trump.

The 2020 election result was verified in several ways: States certified the results. Trump and his allies lost over 60 processes. Congress accepted the results after Trump supporters violent riot at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. A panel of conservatives, including former federal judges, reviewed each claim of fraud and miscalculation by Trump and his allies and concluded that they “did not present evidence of fraud or inaccurate results significant enough to invalidate the results.”

Republicans in Trump’s own administration, including his then-attorney general, Bill Barrtold Trump that his statements about the “stolen” election were “bulls—-.” Republican state election officialsincluding Georgia, said the election was safe and Biden won.

PolitiFact has documented several examples of voter fraud in 2020such as people voting on behalf of deceased relatives. But these cases were not enough to change the outcome of the race.

States used ‘Covid to cheat’ in 2020 elections.

Pants on fire!

Many states have made voting easier during the pandemic by sending a ballot or a request to receive a ballot to registered voters. Some states that previously required voters to have an excuse to vote by mail have relaxed that rule.

Trump is free to disagree with these changes, but he is wrong — and ridiculously so — to characterize them as cheating. These changes were made overtly, through executive orders, administrative actions, or laws. And when a state expanded access to mail-in voting, it was also available to Republican voters.

States “had to get legislative approval to do the things they did,” such as changing the rules for mail-in voting.

Rejecting a Trump argument in the 2020 election results lawsuits, various courts have ruled that states do not have to run every electoral policy through the legislature; instead, if necessary, state officials can act on their own. .

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, for example, sued four battleground states that were for Bidenarguing that their election procedures violated the laws of their states. One one page rulingThe US Supreme Court declined to hear the suit, concluding that Texas has no business challenging the way other states conduct elections.

Experts said changing election rules without passing legislation is common.

“There are often gaps in election statutes that state and local election officials routinely fill in based on delegated authority,” said Rebecca Green, a professor of election law at the College of William and Mary. “So to say that all decisions about how elections are conducted must come from the legislature is inconsistent with the authority expressly delegated to state election officials.”

The changes made without formal approval by legislatures were made not only in Democratic or battleground states, but also by Republican officials in staunchly pro-Trump states.

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum issued a command in March 2020, suspending the requirement that each county operate at least one in-person polling place for counties that have approved voting by mail.

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson issued a executive order allowing concerns about COVID-19 to be a valid excuse to vote absentee for the November 2020 election.

In Paxton’s state, Texas Governor Greg Abbott added extra days of early voting for the general election, citing challenges posed by the pandemic.

After Hurricane Michael hit North Florida in October 2018, then-Gov. Rick Scott cited emergency laws in it command to lift some rules related to postal ballots and in-person voting.

“If you look at Wisconsin, they basically admitted that the election was rigged, rigged and stolen.”

Pants on fire!

Trump called for recounts in Wisconsin, but those recounts support Biden’s victory; Biden had a net 74 votes when the recount was completed. The state certified Biden’s victory.

The Supreme Court of Wisconsin dismissed a lawsuit seeking to ban absentee ballots, concluding the issues were not “cleanly presented.”

An investigation led by former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman — who aligned himself with Trump and promoted his false claims — he did not present any evidence the elections were called incorrectly.

The conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Freedom found no evidence of widespread fraud. And state auditors finder the voting machines worked correctly.

PolitiFact Senior Correspondent Amy Sherman contributed to this report.