Former President Donald Trump publicly acknowledged that he did not win the 2020 presidential election, telling podcaster Lex Fridman that he "lost by a whisker."
Fridman asked the Republican nominee about his expectations for his debate next week against Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, in a podcast episode released Tuesday.
Trump initially answered, "I've done a lot of debating ... I've done well with debates," before embarking on a tangent about the number of votes he received in 2020, saying: "I became president. Then the second time I got millions more votes than I got the first time."
"I was told if I got 63 million, which is what I got the first time, 'You would win. You can't not win.' And I got millions more votes than that and lost by a whisker," Trump added.
Trump received about 74 million votes nationally in 2020, compared to 81 million for Joe Biden.
His admission is a departure from his usual rhetoric about the 2020 presidential election results, which he often claims were "rigged."
Trump also cast doubt on the election later in the podcast with Fridman, saying, "I think the election was a fraud, and many people felt it was that, and they wanted answers."
Following the 2020 election, Trump and his team spent weeks challenging the election results in swing states like Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
Trump is facing four federal felony charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. A federal grand jury returned an indictment alleging that Trump knowingly lied about the 2020 election by spreading claims that “were unsupported, objectively unreasonable, and ever-changing.” Trump has indicated his lawyers will enter a not guilty plea on his behalf during a hearing on the case on Thursday.
Separately, Trump is also facing criminal charges in Fulton County, Georgia, for his efforts to reverse the sate's election results.
Ahead of this year's presidential election, Republicans have already launched lawsuits in battleground states, including in Michigan over whether Detroit has hired enough GOP poll workers, and in North Carolina alleging the state’s voter rolls could allow noncitizens to vote.
Democrats warn that these pre-election legal moves could be used by the GOP to sow doubt if Trump loses the election again.
