Everything we learned from Trump’s press conference at the White House

In yet another press conference, Rudy Guiliani and Trump’s team of lawyers decided to talk to reporters about their claims of voter fraud. Many media outlets, reporters, researchers, officials, and fact-checkers say their allegations are merely conspiracy theories & are entirely false claims, but President Donald Trump & his most loyal followers still won’t concede to Joe Biden, who is projected to win the presidency. 

It’s been over two weeks since election night and a week and a half since most media outlets projected Joe Biden to win, but Trump’s decision to not concede has faced criticism, especially from election officials who repeatedly say they’ve found no evidence of any kind of voter fraud. Nevertheless, Trump still takes to Twitter to make outlandish claims many confirm are entirely false.

Here’s what happened at Giuliani’s press conference at the Republican National Committee’s headquarters and what experts are saying about Giuliani’s claims. 

“Elite strike force team”

Giuliani called themselves an “elite strike force team”, which included Giuliani, who’s Trump’s personal attorney, and three of Trump’s campaign attorneys: Jenna Ellis, Joseph diGenova, and Sidney Powell. The ninety-minute news conference was meant to be a “brief description” or “overview” of Trump’s case, as claimed by Ellis.

Despite the Trump campaign’s many defeats in courts across the country, the pack of lawyers gathered at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C. to restate their claims, which many have called unfounded conspiracy theories, including election officials. Hours before the conference, the Trump campaign withdrew its last lawsuit in Michigan following their losses, according to Politico.

Ellis said the team of lawyers would “not back down”. “We will not be intimidated. President Trump will not be intimidated,” Ellis continued. Powell continued this rhetoric, saying, “We are going to clean this mess up now. President Trump won by a landslide. We are going to prove it”. Trump also teased the conference, telling his base to watch it on the controversial news outlets OANN, Newsmax, and “maybe Fox News”.

“Pathways to victory” claim

Giuliani spoke next to a map of the United States, with six states highlighted in red: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, & Wisconsin. Giuliani argued these states, which have already been called by major outlets to be Biden-winning states, were victims of voter fraud. Giuliani said the “massive fraud” took place in “big cities” that he claims have a “long history of corruption”, according to Politico. 

Giuliani also said mail-in ballots “are particularly prone to fraud”. However, many election officials have debunked this theory, with experts saying the 2020 Presidential Election was “the most secure in American history”, and there has been no evidence of any occurrence of voter fraud, according to Politico. In spite of the debunked theories, Giuliani continued to claim there was voter fraud.

One major area Giuliani pointed to was Wayne County, Michigan, which recently certified its votes even after two Republicans on the Board of Canvassers were deadlocked on their votes. Giuliani said, “It changes the result of the election in Michigan if you take out Wayne County”. Wayne County notably includes Detroit, which is Michigan’s largest city, is heavily Democratic, & has a large population of Black voters. 

Refusing Biden’s projected win

Giuliani continued to refuse to acknowledge Biden’s projected win, saying it was “not a victory, but a fraud”. Biden has been projected to win by major news outlets, with most projecting him to win 306 electoral votes. The Associated Press hasn’t called Georgia, making Biden have 290, which is still over the 270 vote threshold a candidate must pass to win. The electoral college has yet to meet, which will solidify who won the election.

Speaking of Georgia, Giuliani said they were planning on filing a major lawsuit in Georgia, despite their losses. Georgia went into a recount due to its close margin, but Biden is still projected to win. The team specifically criticized Dominion Voting Systems, a voting technology company with Powell claiming the company committed “serious federal offenses”, but there’s no evidence confirming this theory. 

Criticizing reporters

Packed in a room of reporters, despite the pandemic, Giuliani and the team started to criticize reporters & news outlets for the coverage of their theories. Ellis called the media “unbiased jurors” while Giuliani said the campaign was “frustrated” with the “censored press”. 

Giuliani claimed the press was lying to U.S. citizens by claiming their theories had no evidence. “Our goal here is to go around the outrageous Iron Curtain of censorship and get facts to the American people”, Giuliani said. 

Most talked about moments

While the claims Giuliani made have been widely scrutinized by news outlets & fact-checkers, people on social media have been talking about his disheveled demeanor & a confusing reference to My Cousin Vinny. Giuliani said the election observers who were sent away was similar to a court scene where Vinny asks a witness how many fingers, he was holding up, while the witness said they couldn’t see anything.

Another widely covered moment was when Giuliani started sweating so profusely brown lines started streaming down his face. Some think it’s hair dye or another type of powder meant to cover grey spots. The strange sight immediately took social media by storm, with plenty of commentary from journalists to citizens.