Stopping the Steal

crowd (chanting): Stop the steal! Stop the steal!

Stop the steal! Stop the steal! Stop the steal!

Donald J. Trump: This election was rigged,

and we can't let it happen.

Can't let it happen. Can't let it happen!

Bill Barr: Before the election, obviously,

I wanted Trump to win. I supported Trump.

But after the election, he started spewing out

all these allegations of voting fraud.

This was a massive fraud.

So, I felt I had to get on top of the main claims

that were being made.

Stephanie Grisham: I was close to him.

Very, very close to Mrs. Trump.

I really liked them.

I kind of felt like they were family to me.

We were getting ready to win this election.

Frankly, we did win this election.

Grisham: I guarantee anybody who was around him at the time,

despite what they were thinking inside,

they were saying, "Oh, it was stolen, sir."

Marc Short: It was weeks of a pressure campaign

to overturn election results.

The vice president was loyally standing by his side.

I stand with President Donald Trump!

But at the same time, we were on a collision course

between the president and the vice president.

And I hope Mike is gonna do the right thing. I hope so.

Because if Mike Pence does the right thing,

we win the election.

Mark Brnovich: President Trump did a great job.

I was right there with him. He called me and said,

"Hey, you'll be the most popular guy in America!

"You'll, you'll be able to run for President!

All you gotta do is say there's fraud or find some fraud."

I could have been a fucking hero.

Trump (on phone): Look, ultimately I win.

So, what are we going to do here, folks?

I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break.

I was for Trump the whole time.

I walked for him. I campaigned for him.

It was fun.

Everyone is saying,

"Wow, the evidence is overwhelming."

And then it started. The steal.

crowd (chanting): Four more years! Four more years!

Four more years! Four more years!

Trump: Get out and vote, and I love you.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Alyssa Farah Griffin: One of the greatest honors I have

is getting to travel the country,

meeting with real Americans with President Trump.

I joined the West Wing under Trump in April of 2020.

I felt emotionally invested in him winning.

Some of these rallies you'll be in a stadium-like seating,

and those can be overwhelming and feel like,

"Wow, this is so many people."

And I remember thinking, he's going to pull it off.

Who, who else can bring and command this kind of a crowd?

But we had no shortage of chaos and crises

in that six-plus month period.

officer (megaphone): Leave the area immediately.

- (gunshots) - (people shouting)

There was sort of a perfect storm of conditions.

By late summer, President Trump starts

to kind of grease the wheels for excuses if he lost.

These elections will be fraudulent,

they'll be fixed, they'll be rigged,

and everyone's looking at it.

Griffin: I was sitting in the Oval Office with him.

No one in the West Wing team

was talking like losing was a reality.

Barr: Up until the election,

you could always appeal to his self-interest.

"Mr. President, this was a bad idea for you.

This will hurt you."

And that would work,

if you appealed to his self-interest.

And that is what helped keep things within the guardrails.

- (plane idling) - Leading up to the election,

all he had to do was temper his behavior a little bit,

and I think he would have easily won re-election.

And people were telling him this for months,

but he was very self-indulgent.

Let's vote for Sleepy Joe, he's fallen asleep.

Joe... Joe, oh...

He ignored all the advice he was getting.

And he ran this election that, that was self-destructive.

The only way we're gonna lose this election

is if the election is rigged, remember that.

It's the only way we're going to lose this election.

Ronald Hansen: In 2020, Arizona,

really for the first time in a long time,

emerged as one of the key swing states

for the presidential race.

- (marching band playing) - (singing)

Arizona has had a change in its population.

You have an immigrant population.

You also have a fair number of retirees coming in.

And it all adds up to a churn in Arizona's population

that helps redefine the state's political inclinations.

crowd: Get out and vote! Get out and vote!

Clint Hickman: Welcome to the Board of Supervisors.

2020 is going to be a very interesting year.

We have elections to run.

It's an honor to serve as Chairman of the Board of Supervisors.

In November 2020, I was Chairman

of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.

My role is to run an election.

The integrity and success of our elections

is my number-one priority.

Maricopa County is the second largest voting district

in the United States because there's just so much population

that exists in this one county.

Moving on. Number four is the pet showcase.

John Reynolds is here from Animal Care and Control.

Uh, we believe her to be maybe a Parsons Russell terrier

and poodle mix.

Bill Gates: We are in 50 different lines of business,

but many of them sort of off the front pages. Right?

You know, animal care and control, air quality,

transportation.

So, important but sort of a more low-profile role.

Until all of this happened.

- We are adjourned. - (bangs gavel)

President Trump was in this community

three, four, five times with large rallies. I was at one.

Six days, can you believe this?

- Six days from now... - (crowd cheering)

...we are going to win Arizona, and we are going to win

four more years in our great beautiful White House.

Hickman: I was a Republican Chairman.

I had something to do with him being there that day.

I was thanked.

Maricopa County Supervisor Clint Hickman.

- (crowd cheering) - Hickman: I felt really happy.

He was our Republican president.

Thank you, Clint. Good job, Clint.

Trump: I think if anything, we're going to do very well.

Winning is easy.

Losing is never easy. Not for me, it's not.

reporter: Let's bring in Alyssa Farah from the White House,

the White House Communications Director.

The president is in a great mood. We're energetic.

The vibe in the West Wing is we're excited.

The early results were coming in,

and it looked like Trump might pull it off.

So, people were a little bit excited

and started making their way over

to the East Wing for the party.

Grisham: There was music playing in the background.

There were two bars open.

You know, people were chatting, taking pictures.

I think... And it was kind of a, "Let's take pictures

"of us winning again, you know, and this time,

we're winning in the White House."

And so, it was really jolly and jovial

and everyone was really happy.

Honestly, I don't even know that people were paying

that close of attention because we were gonna win.

And then very shortly after, the Arizona call came in.

The Fox News decision desk is calling Arizona for Joe Biden.

That is a big get for the Biden campaign.

It's a significant victory for, for Joe Biden.

As I say, the first flip of the night.

Hansen: Fox News calling Arizona for Joe Biden.

This started to set the dominoes tumbling.

It had outsized repercussions for the tenor

of the national race.

Grisham: We were all in the residence,

I think it was like, two in the morning,

three in the morning at that point,

as we watched stuff come in,

and then as it was looking like

Biden was going to accept that he had won.

I'm here to tell you tonight

we believe we're on track to win this election!

I'm optimistic about this outcome!

The President was standing in this middle of this...

this crowd of people. And it was just chaos.

Everyone's yelling.

Trump's waving a piece of paper in his hand.

He's very angry.

And when he's pissed,

you don't want to even get in his line of vision.

And then all of a sudden, abruptly,

it was like a light switch went off.

It was like somebody just turned the light off

'cause everybody just started heading downstairs,

um, for him to speak.

crowd: We love Trump! We love Trump! We love Trump!

Trump: Well, thank you very much.