Donald Trump baselessly accused the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) of helping to rig the 2020 election against him and “probably tried” again in 2024.
Trump made the bizarre claim in a joint press conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Oval Office on Thursday while responding to a question from an alleged reporter in the room.
“Congratulations for a fantastic 24 days of your presidency. Historic and unprecedented decisions that you’ve made,” the reporter began, according to a clip shared by Mediaite. “I’m particularly impressed by the exposé on USAID. And I would like you to share with us, if you think USAID had a role in election interference in the U.S. in 2020, and in the elections in 2024.”
Trump said that “bad things happened” that year, referring to 2020. “It [USAID] could’ve had a role, there were a lot of bad things that happened in 2020.”
“I think bad things happened in 2024 as well, but it was too big to rig,” he continued. “We won by a tremendous margin. And we won every swing state. We won the popular vote by millions of votes. So it was too big to rig. But yeah, I think they probably tried.”
USAID, which is responsible for humanitarian efforts around the globe, has been under attack by Trump and Elon Musk. Musk, through his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has illegally withheld congressionally allocated funds and tried to fired staff.
Judge Carl J. Nichols, a Trump-nominated federal judge, announced a temporary restraining order that prevents Trump and DOGE from placing 2,200 USAID employees on administrative leave.
Trump has falsely claimed that the 2020 presidential election was rigged despite providing no evidence and all his cases challenging the results of the election lost in court.
