Former President Donald Trumpâs longtime adviser Rudy Giuliani reportedly told campaign aides to âjust say we wonâ while votes were still being counted.
In the âI Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trumpâs Catastrophic Final Yearâ book, journalists for The Washington Post, Carol Leonning and Phillip Rucker, reported on the events.
âGiuliani went state by state asking Stepien, Meadows, and Miller what they were seeing and what their plan was,â they wrote.
âWhatâs happening in Michigan?â Giuliani asked.
Stepien, Meadows, and Miller told him it was too early to tell as votes were still being counted.
Giuliani told them, âJust say we won.â
When discussing Pennsylvania, Giuliani said, âJust say we won Pennsylvania.â
The authors explained Stepien, Meadows, and Miller thought Giulianiâs argument was both âincoherent and irresponsible.â
Meadows then said, according to the book, âWe canât do that. We canât.â
Trump declared victory even though millions of ballots had yet to be counted.
Leonning and Rucker reported on Trumpâs attitude on the morning of Election Day, saying he was âupbeat,â adding, âThe mood in the West Wing was good. Some aides talked giddily of a landslide.â
They also noted, âTrumpâs voice was hoarse from his mad dash of rallies, but he thought his exhausting final sprint had sealed the deal. He considered Joe Biden to be a lot of things, but a winner most definitely was not one of them. âI canât lose to this f****** guy,â Trump told aides.â
Others saw that it was not looking good, including Republican National Committee Chairwoman (RNC) Ronna McDaniel and now-former Attorney General Bill Barr.
âAlyssa Farah, the White House communications director, stepped away from the party in the East Room and saw McDaniel pacing in the hallway,â the book reads.
According to the book, Farah said to the RNC chairwoman, âRonna, good to see you!â
McDaniel then responded, âHey, good to see you,â adding, âThings are not looking good.â
The book continues, âWilliam P. Barr had the same feeling.â
The book also reads, recalling what occurred after Fox News called Arizona for Joe Biden:
âGiuliani pushed the president to forget about the Arizona call and just say he won â to step into the East Room and deliver a victory speech. Never mind that Meadows had earlier snapped at Giuliani and said the president couldnât just declare himself the winner.
âJust go declare victory right now,â Giuliani told Trump. âYouâve got to go declare victory now.â
Giulianiâs interjection of his âjust-say-you-wonâ strategy infuriated Trumpâs campaign advisers.â
One of Trumpâs campaigner advisers said, according to the book, âItâs hard to be the responsible parent when thereâs a cool uncle around taking the kid to the movies and driving him around in a Corvette. When we say the president canât say that, being responsible is not the easiest place to be when youâve got people telling the president what he wants to hear. Itâs hard to tell the president no. Itâs not an enviable place to be.â
