Trump refuses to acknowledge his 2020 loss and dodges debate question about his Jan. 6 actions

Former President Donald Trump, who faces federal criminal charges over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, once again refused to acknowledge that he lost the election, saying at Tuesday's debate that he was only being sarcastic when he recently said he had lost "by a whisker."

"Are you now acknowledging that you lost in 2020?" ABC News anchor David Muir asked.

"No," Trump responded. "I said that sarcastically."

Trump went on to repeat false claims that there was "so much proof" that he had won the election. And he dodged when asked whether he had any regrets about his actions on Jan. 6, 2021.

A federal grand jury indictment returned last month alleged that Trump made "unsupported, objectively unreasonable, and ever-changing" claims about the 2020 election in an effort to stay in office and stop the peaceful transfer of power. Federal prosecutors working under Jack Smith, the special counsel overseeing the investigation, allege that Trump knew he was spreading falsehoods and that he didn't actually believe the lies that millions of his supporters believed.

Some Jan. 6 rioters who followed Trump after the election have told federal judges that they feel like gullible "idiots" for having believed Trump, but his attorneys have tried to give an intellectual shine to his claims, describing his falsehoods as "not unreasonable at the time" and insisting they were "plausible and maintained in good faith."

Other Jan. 6 defendants continue to maintain their belief in Trump's election lies. Daniel Rodriguez, a Trump supporter who drove a stun gun into the neck of Washington Police Officer Michael Fanone that day, yelled "Trump won!" after he was sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison. Rodriguez told the FBI that Trump "called us" to Washington and that he felt a duty to help the commander in chief.

Vice President Kamala Harris said during the debate that "Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people, so let's be very clear about that, and clearly he is having a very difficult time processing that."

"But we cannot afford to have a president of the United States who attempts, as he did in the past, to upend the will of the voters in a free and fair election," she added.

Trump's inability to acknowledge the reality of his 2020 election loss, Harris said, raises questions about his "temperament" and his "ability to not be confused about fact," which she called it "deeply troubling."

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Harris noted that Trump was impeached and indicted over his actions on Jan. 6, when hundreds of Trump supporters were caught on video brandishing or using firearms, stun guns, flagpoles, fire extinguishers, bike racks, batons, a metal whip, office furniture, pepper spray, bear spray, a tomahawk ax, a hatchet, a hockey stick, knuckle gloves, a baseball bat, a massive “Trump” billboard, “Trump” flags, a pitchfork, pieces of lumber, crutches and even an explosive device during the attack, which injured at least 140 police officers.

Several officers who served on Jan. 6 died in the aftermath of the attack, including by suicide. Washington Police Officer Jeffrey Smith, who was assaulted during the riot, died by suicide after he was injured at the Capitol, and a board found Smith's injury "was the sole and direct cause" of his death.

“We’re not going back. It’s time to turn the page," Harris said. "And if that was a bridge too far for you, well, there is a place in our campaign for you to stand for country, stand for our democracy, to stand for rule of law and to end the approach that is about attacking the foundations of our democracy because you don’t like the outcome."

Trump, who has called Jan. 6 defendants "hostages" and "unbelievable patriots" and has said he would pardon "a large portion" of Jan. 6 defendants, said Tuesday that Capitol riot defendants had been "treated so badly."

More than 1,400 people have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and federal prosecutors have secured more than 1,000 convictions. While hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants have been sentenced to probation, more than 500 have been sentenced to prison sentences, ranging from a few days behind bars to 22 years in federal prison for Enrique Tarrio, the Proud Boys leader convicted of seditious conspiracy.

Trump's rhetoric at a debate in September 2020 — when he told the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by" — played a role in the Proud Boys' seditious conspiracy trial, with federal prosecutors telling jurors that the Proud Boys who stormed the Capitol wanted to be "Donald Trump’s army."