The 2016 election was stolen from Hillary Clinton
| The 2016 election was stolen from Hillary Clinton | |
|---|---|
| UNSUPPORTED | |
| "Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election only because it was stolen, making Donald Trump an illegitimate president." | |
| Domain | Politics & Elections |
| Tactic | Conspiracy Theory |
| Era | Current |
| First seen | 2016 |
| Origin | Statements by Hillary Clinton and others after the 2016 election, including her 2019 remarks calling Trump "an illegitimate president" |
| Last reviewed | 2026-10-29 |
| Further reading: books on Politics & Elections | |
In May 2019 Hillary Clinton told an audience that "you can run the best campaign" and "have the election stolen from you." In a September 2019 CBS interview, she said Donald Trump "knows he's an illegitimate president." Some supporters went further and claimed the election had been rigged.
Russia interfered in the 2016 election through hacking and influence operations. That is well documented. No evidence shows that votes were changed or that the outcome was altered.
What the evidence shows
- Interference confirmed. The intelligence community's January 2017 assessment, the Mueller report and the Senate Intelligence Committee all found that Russia hacked Democratic emails and ran social media influence campaigns intended to help Trump.
- No vote changes. The Department of Homeland Security and the Senate committee found that Russian hackers scanned or accessed some state election systems but found no evidence any vote tallies were altered.
- Recounts. Recounts sought by Jill Stein in Wisconsin and partial efforts in Michigan in 2016 confirmed Trump's wins.
- Effect unknown. Whether interference changed enough minds to decide the election cannot be measured. The intelligence community said it did not assess the effect on voters.
Why it matters
"Stolen" implies the result was falsified. The 2016 case involves documented foreign interference but no evidence of altered results, a distinction that matters as much here as it does for claims about 2020.
Sources
- Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections, January 6, 2017.
- US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Russian Active Measures Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 U.S. Election, Volumes 1–5, 2019–2020.
- CBS News, interview with Hillary Clinton, September 2019.