Trump says it was his decision to persist with 2020 election challenges

Former United States President Donald Trump said he dismissed the views of his own lawyers in continuing to challenge his 2020 defeat because he did not respect them, saying in an interview aired on Sunday that he had made up his own mind that the election had been “rigged” – a claim that he continues to make.

Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination to take on Democratic President Joe Biden in the 2024 election, is now facing four concurrent criminal prosecutions, including two involving his attempts to overturn his 2020 loss to Biden.

“It was my decision,” Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program, that the election was “rigged” against him, adding that he relied heavily upon his own “instincts” in coming to that conclusion.

Trump has continued to make false claims that the election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud.

Asked why he dismissed the views of lawyers in the White House and his campaign that he had lost the election, Trump responded: “Because I didn’t respect them.”

“I listened to some people,” Trump said. “Guys like Bill Barr, who was stiff, but he wasn’t there at the time. But he didn’t do his job because he was afraid.”

Trump has pleaded not guilty in all four criminal cases, including a federal prosecution in Washington and a Georgia state indictment that involved his attempts to recruit a slate of phony electors for congressional certification of the 2020 election results.