Does a video show President Donald Trump saying that the 2024 presidential election was rigged with the help of Elon Musk? No, that's not true: In the speech excerpted in the video, Trump's remark about rigging referred to the 2020 presidential election, which he has repeatedly and falsely claimed was not legitimate. In the speech, he made a vague remark about the 2024 presidential election and Elon Musk's work on his behalf in Pennsylvania, but did not say 2024 was rigged.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on Threads on January 19, 2025. The post contained a video with a caption that opened:
Donald Trump just stood on stage and said the election was stolen for him...
The video and caption include an implication that Elon Musk helped Trump influence the 2024 presidential election. However, that claim will not be covered here as Trump's statements about Musk and the 2024 presidential election were not clear enough for analysis. The second part of the video's claim, however, is the subject of this fact check.
This is what the post looked like on Threads at the time of writing:
(Source: Threads screenshot taken on Mon Jan 20 17:25:20 2025 UTC)
The video clip captures Trump speaking during a rally on January 19, 2025. A C-SPAN video (archived here) of the rally shows Trump talking about his communication with Casey Wasserman, chairman of the 2028 Olympics and Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, which hosts the World Cup. At the 2:34:27-mark, Trump says:
We had our top people, Wasserman, they all came in on the Olympics. And then I saw Gianni, and we got the World Cup, too. And you know it's only because they rigged the election that I'll be your president representing you there. You know, I got both of them, I got the Olympics, and I got the World Cup. And I said, you know, it's too bad, one was in 2026, and the other was in 2028, and I said, 'I won't be there, I won't be your president!' But then they rigged the election and now we won, so I'm gonna be your president for the Olympics and for the World Cup.
Trump was talking about his talks with the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics leadership, as both events will be held in the U.S. (the World Cup is an international event). Trump met with FIFA leadership and the International Olympic Committee during his first term (here and here, respectively) and has been involved with the organizations directly before his second term (here and here, respectively).
Thus, the "rigged" election Trump referenced was not the 2024 presidential election. Instead, he was talking about the 2020 presidential election he contends was rigged. This rally clip was another instance of his claim that former President Joe Biden did not actually win the 2020 presidential election, which is not true.
Trump's statements were meant to communicate that if he had won the 2020 presidential election, he would not have been president during the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics. Now that he won the 2024 presidential election, he will be president when these events occur.
Other Lead Stories fact checks of claims related to Trump can be found here.
