Trump says it was his decision to describe the 2020 election as 'rigged'

Former President Donald Trump said Sunday that he didn’t respect lawyers and members of his campaign who told him he lost the 2020 presidential election, and that it was his decision to buy into the theory that the election was rigged.

“In many cases, I didn't respect them,” Trump said during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” when asked why he decided to ignore his lawyers and advisers who told him he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. “But I did respect others. I respected many others that said the election was rigged.”

Trump, the current frontrunner in the GOP presidential primary, is facing indictments related to his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. In the federal case against him, prosecutors cited the fact that Trump was told repeatedly by his lawyers that he had lost the election. Trump's campaign lost dozens of lawsuits trying to challenge his 2020 defeat in the weeks after the election, with their baseless conspiracy theories swatted away.

When pressed about how he came to the conclusion that the election was rigged, Trump said it was his own decision.

“You called some of your outside lawyers — you said they had crazy theories. Why were you listening to them? Were you listening to them because they were telling you what you wanted to hear?” NBC host Kristen Welker asked.

“You know who I listen to? Myself. I saw what happened. I watched that election, and I thought the election was over at 10 o'clock in the evening,” Trump said. “It was my decision. But I listened to some people. Some people said that,” he added later.