attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election

After Democratic nominee Joe Biden won the 2020 United States presidential election, Republican nominee and then-incumbent President Donald Trump pursued an unprecedented effort to overturn the election, with support and assistance from his campaign, proxies, political allies, and many of his supporters. These efforts culminated in the January 6 United States Capitol attack by Trump supporters, which was widely described as an attempted coup d'état. One week later, Trump was impeached for incitement of insurrection but was acquitted by the Senate by a vote of 57–43, 10 votes short of the 67 votes (two-thirds of the Senate) required to convict him. Trump and his allies used the "big lie" propaganda technique to promote numerous false claims and conspiracy theories asserting that the election was stolen by means of rigged voting machines, electoral fraud and an international communist conspiracy. Trump pressed Justice Department leaders to challenge the election results and publicly state the election was corrupt. However, the U.S. attorney general, the director of National Intelligence, and the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agencyas well as some Trump campaign staffdismissed these claims. State and federal judges, election officials, and state governors also decided the claims were baseless. Trump loyalists, including Trump's chief of staff Meadows, his personal lawyer Giuliani, and several Republican lawmakers from the House Freedom Caucus, attempted to keep Trump in power. At the state level, their tactics targeted state legislatures with the intent of changing the results or delaying the electoral vote certification at the Capitol. At the national level, they promoted the idea that Vice President Mike Pence could refuse to certify the election results on January 6, 2021. Consequently, hundreds of elected Republicans, including members of Congress and governors, have refused to acknowledge Biden's victory; a few have since decided to acknowledge it. Trump's legal team sought a path to bring a case before the Supreme Court, but none of the 63 lawsuits they filed were successful. They especially pinned their hopes on Texas v. Pennsylvania, but on December 11, 2020, the Supreme Court declined to hear that case. After that, Trump reportedly considered multiple ways to remain in power, including military intervention, seizing voting machines, and another appeal to the Supreme Court.