CNN’s Daniel Dale fact-checked a slew of Donald Trump’s false arguments around the “stolen” 2020 election and mail-in voting on Tuesday night — two nights ahead of the president’s prime-time speech where he’s expected to reveal evidence of voter fraud.
The Canadian correspondent appeared on “The Lead” with Jake Tapper and dispelled Trump’s claims that he won the 2020 election as the president prepares for his Thursday prime-time remarks.
“He lost and yet as you said we’re approaching six years of him lying that he won,” Dale said. “Recently, he’s begun saying that so much proof has already emerged of his claims that the election was rigged and that he was the real winner. No such proof has emerged.”
Reports ahead of Thursday indicate that the president’s address will give Americans more insight into his task force on election fraud, but the president had not confirmed the contents of his speech at the time of publication. He has continued the rhetoric, however, that the 2020 election was “rigged.”
“He’s even started saying he’s in his ‘third term’ as president, so inventing an imaginary, unconstitutional victory. And then there’s an entire cinematic universe, dozens of additional lies — frankly too many to go through,” Dale said.
He continued to name them, though.
“Claims that he won the popular vote in all three of his elections [when] in fact he only won it in 2024. Wild conspiracies about China, Italy, other countries using voting machines to flip votes. Simply did not happen,” he said.
“Other claims about mail in ballots,” he continued. “You heard one there that they are crooked, they’re corrupt. They simply are not although the fraud rates are slightly elevated compared to in-person voting.”
“Mail-in ballots have been good enough for legitimate voters, including one Donald J. Trump, who has voted by mail himself,” he said.
CNN's Daniel Dale fact checks Trump's baseless election fraud claims before Thursday’s prime-time address pic.twitter.com/bnYIgswsoN
— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) July 14, 2026
The president told reporters in the Oval Office Tuesday that his Thursday prime-time address would concern elections but did not elaborate further.
“I’d rather save it. But it’s really big news,” he teased.
Trump has long claimed that he won the 2020 election, alleging that there was foreign interference that led to Joe Biden winning. There is no proof of this interference. Recounts and court reviews have upheld the results that former President Biden won.
The president created an administration task force to declassify a large volume of sensitive government documents in order to make them public, but results of that effort have not been made public.
“Anonymous sources are speculating about what President Trump will say during his speech on Thursday evening,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “The truth is, nobody knows yet what President Trump will ultimately say, which is why everyone should tune in.”
