Trump calls for special prosecutor to investigate 2020 election,
reviving longstanding grievance
[June 21, 2025]
By ERIC TUCKER
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday called for the
appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the 2020 election won
by Democrat Joe Biden, repeating his baseless claim that the contest was
marred by widespread fraud.
“Biden was grossly incompetent, and the 2020 election was a total
FRAUD!” Trump said in a social media post in which he also sought to
favorably contrast his immigration enforcement approach with that of the
former president. “The evidence is MASSIVE and OVERWHELMING. A Special
Prosecutor must be appointed. This cannot be allowed to happen again in
the United States of America! Let the work begin!”
Trump's post, made as his Republican White House is consumed by a hugely
substantial foreign policy decision on whether to get directly involved
in the Israel-Iran war, is part of an amped-up effort by him to
undermine the legitimacy of Biden's presidency. Earlier this month,
Trump directed his administration to investigate Biden’s actions as
president, alleging aides masked his predecessor’s “cognitive decline.”
Biden has dismissed the investigation as “a mere distraction.”
The post also revives a long-running grievance by Trump that the
election was stolen even though courts around the country and a Trump
attorney general from his first term found no evidence of fraud that
could have affected the outcome. The Department of Homeland Security’s
cybersecurity arm pronounced the election “the most secure in American
history.”
It was unclear what Trump had in mind when he called for a special
prosecutor, but in the event Attorney General Pam Bondi heeds his call,
she may face pressure to appoint someone who has already been confirmed
by the Senate. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment
Friday.
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President Donald Trump talks with reporters as he meets with members
of the Juventus soccer club in the Oval Office of the White House,
Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The Justice Department in recent years has appointed a succession of
special counsels — sometimes, though not always, plucked from
outside the agency — to lead investigations into politically
sensitive matters, including into conduct by Biden and by Trump.
Last year, Trump's personal lawyers launched an aggressive, and
successful, challenge to the appointment of Jack Smith, the special
counsel assigned to investigate his efforts to undo the 2020
presidential election and his retention of classified documents at
his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. A Trump-appointed
judge agreed, ruling that then-Attorney General Merrick Garland had
exceeded his bounds by appointing a prosecutor without Senate
approval and confirmation, and dismissed the case.
That legal team included Todd Blanche, who is now deputy attorney
general, as well as Emil Bove, who is Blanche's top deputy but was
recently nominated to serve as a judge on a federal appeals court.
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