Donald Trump falsely claims his election lawsuits failed in 2020 only on 'a technicality'

Donald Trump falsely claimed in Tuesday night's presidential debate that all of his election lawsuits failed in 2020 only on "a technicality."

The claim came while ABC News moderator David Muir fact-checked Trump's false statements about the 2020 election that he attempted to overturn.

"And we should just point out here as clarification — and you know this," Muir started. "You and your allies, 60 cases in front of many judges — many Republicans — looked at it, and said there was no widespread fraud."

Trump started talking over Muir as he was finishing his sentence.

"No judge looked at it," Trump replied.

"They said we didn't have standing," he said, referencing to a legal term for the right to bring a lawsuit based on one's connection to the issue at hand.

"That's the other thing," he said. "They said we didn't have standing. A technicality. Can you imagine a system where a person in an election doesn't have standing, the president of the United states doesn't have standing? That's how we lost."

But Trump and his allies had dozens of cases appear live before judges in hearings, including 30 that were heard on the merits.

All but one of those cases failed. Judges dismissed them after the hearings. Appeals judges decided against Trump's allies. A judge in Arizona even dismissed the case from the bench during an evidentiary hearing.

The facts

"Cases don't just dismiss themselves," Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles told USA TODAY. "Judges dismiss them."

Not all of them were dismissed.

In 2022, eight conservative legal experts published a report called " Lost, Not Stolen ," reviewing the evidence in 64 different cases in six swing states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. They found that Trump and his allies simply didn't provide evidence of widespread election fraud.

Here's how the cases ended:

• Courts held hearings on the merits in 30 c ases, and 29 of the cases failed
• Trump allies asked to dismiss 14 of them
• Courts dismissed 20 cases before holding hearings on the merits
• Trump was successful in a single, inconsequential case in Pennsylvania

"These cases provided the forums in which Trump and his supporters could and should have proven their claims," the report concluded. "This Report shows that those efforts failed because of a lack of evidence and not because of erroneous rulings or unfair judges."

"Judges, legislators, and other election officers, often including members of his own party, gave Trump ample time and every opportunity to present evidence to make his case," the report continued. "Post-election audits or reviews in each state also failed to show any irregularities or fraud that would overturn the electoral results."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump falsely claims his election lawsuits failed in 2020 only on 'a technicality'