“It is very late in the process, (early) voting has already begun — there will be no rematch!”
· Truth Social; earlier in August 2024 Trump had publicly pushed for three debates against Harris
· ×3
Trump spent August 2024 demanding multiple debates and made participation contingent on Harris agreeing to three. After the single September 10, 2024 debate — which polls scored for Harris — he posted "THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!" and in October ruled out the CNN-hosted October 23 debate Harris accepted, and Fox's offered dates of October 24 and 27. Only one Trump-Harris debate ever took place.
“[paraphrase] We want one-day voting, paper ballots only.”
· Campaign rallies and Truth Social posts
· ×8
No federal paper-ballot mandate exists and none is possible without Congress. PolitiFact rated the promise Stalled in its January 2026 review; states continue to run elections on their own equipment.
“[paraphrase] We will have same-day voting with all results counted on election night.”
· Campaign rallies
· ×6
No federal action was taken to force same-night counting, which federal law cannot impose on states. PolitiFact rated the promise Stalled at the January 2026 one-year mark, with the 2026 midterm rules unchanged.
“[paraphrase] Only citizens will vote — we will require proof of citizenship to register.”
· Campaign rallies and the SAVE Act push
· ×12
The SAVE Act passed the House but stalled in the Senate, and Trump's March 2025 elections executive order imposing proof-of-citizenship requirements was blocked in federal court. PolitiFact rated the promise Stalled at the one-year mark; Poynter's January 2026 review listed it among the promises facing Senate hurdles.
“[paraphrase] We will pass a law requiring voter ID for all elections.”
· Agenda 47 election integrity policy video
· ×10
No national voter ID law exists. Election administration is a state power and the necessary federal legislation never cleared the Senate. PolitiFact rated the promise Stalled in its January 2026 one-year review.
“A Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable REPORT on the Presidential Election Fraud which took place in Georgia... will be presented at a major News Conference on Monday.”
· Truth Social, two days after his Fulton County indictment; the conference was to be held at Bedminster, New Jersey
· ×2
Deadline Aug 21, 2023 · 3 years, 1 month overdue
He cancelled on August 20, 2023, writing that his lawyers would prefer to put the evidence in 'formal Legal Filings' and that 'the News Conference is no longer necessary!' No such report was ever released, publicly or in any court filing. As late as a July 2026 primetime speech on election security, experts said the documents he cited still showed no evidence of the fraud he alleges.
“[paraphrase] Trump announced a news conference at Mar-a-Lago for January 6, 2022 to address the anniversary and his election claims, then called it off two days beforehand.”
· Announcement via his Save America PAC for an event at Mar-a-Lago
On January 4, 2022 Trump cancelled the event, blaming "total bias" from the media and the House January 6 committee, and said he would make the same points at a January 15 rally in Arizona. CNN reported that advisers, including lawyers worried about his legal exposure, had pushed him to call it off. It would have been only his second press conference since leaving office.
“Trump has been telling a number of people he's in contact with that he expects he will get reinstated by August.”
· Reported by New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman, based on Trump's private conversations
There is no constitutional mechanism for reinstating a president. August 2021 came and went with Joe Biden in office. The claim was tied to the Arizona "audit" and similar state reviews Trump was promoting, none of which changed a single certified result; the Cyber Ninjas review released in September 2021 actually found Biden with slightly more votes. The belief circulated widely among supporters and produced nothing.
“[paraphrase] Trump told advisers he wanted to start a new party — the Patriot Party — to punish Republicans who blamed him for January 6.”
· Reported conversations with advisers in his final days in office; first reported by The Wall Street Journal
Deadline Jan 25, 2021 · 5 years, 7 months overdue
The idea lasted less than a week. On January 25, 2021 Trump's own campaign committee formally disavowed groups using the Patriot Party name, and adviser Jason Miller told CNN Trump was not considering a third party. Supporters filed their own FEC paperwork and built Telegram groups around a party that never existed. Trump stayed inside the Republican Party and took it over instead.
“[paraphrase] Big news coming. We have tremendous evidence and you'll see it very soon. / Sidney Powell: 'I'm going to release the Kraken.'”
· Trump tweets and campaign statements; Sidney Powell on Fox Business's 'Lou Dobbs Tonight'
· ×8
Deadline Nov 8, 2020 · 5 years, 10 months overdue
The evidence never materialised. A promised fraud press conference was cancelled on his attorneys' advice. Attorney General Bill Barr said on December 1, 2020 that the Justice Department had found no fraud on a scale that would change the outcome. Trump and his allies lost or withdrew roughly 60 of 62 post-election lawsuits, and the Supreme Court rejected the Texas case on December 11, 2020. Powell's 'Kraken' suits in Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona were all dismissed; she pleaded guilty to misdemeanour conspiracy charges in Fulton County in October 2023.
“I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and... even, those registered to vote who are dead.”
· Twitter, two days after telling congressional leaders that 3 to 5 million illegal votes cost him the popular vote
· ×4
Deadline Feb 8, 2017 · 9 years, 7 months overdue
The commission was not created until May 11, 2017 and was disbanded on January 3, 2018 without ever issuing a report. Documents later obtained in litigation showed it had found no evidence of widespread fraud. Evidence for the 3 to 5 million claim was never produced by Trump, Sean Spicer or anyone else.
“I also know things that other people don't know, and so they cannot be sure of the situation... You'll find out on Tuesday or Wednesday.”
· Remarks to reporters before his New Year's Eve party at Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach
Deadline Jan 4, 2017 · 9 years, 8 months overdue
Nothing was revealed on that Tuesday or Wednesday. Trump was briefed by intelligence chiefs on January 6, 2017 and at his January 11 press conference conceded 'I think it was Russia' — the opposite of the inside-knowledge tease. No separate disclosure was ever made.
“[paraphrase] I will support the Republican nominee and I will not run as an independent.”
· Trump Tower, after meeting RNC chairman Reince Priebus; signed pledge displayed to cameras
· ×2
Trump signed the RNC's written loyalty pledge on September 3, 2015 and waved it at reporters, using it to defuse the threat of a third-party run. On March 29-30, 2016, at a CNN town hall, he said he no longer felt bound by it: "No, I don't anymore." The pledge was dead 209 days after he signed it. He again refused to sign the RNC's 2024 primary pledge.
“[paraphrase] It's a possibility — I'll make a decision at some time pretty soon, if the Republican Party unifies behind me.”
· Interviews and a meeting with New York Republican lawmakers
· ×2
Trump strung along New York Republicans recruiting him to challenge Governor Andrew Cuomo, setting a condition — party unity behind him — that he controlled the goalposts for. He never ran. Rob Astorino became the Republican nominee and lost to Cuomo in November 2014. The episode followed the same tease-then-decline pattern as 2000, 2011 and 2012.
“I will not be running for president, as much as I'd like to. ... Ultimately, business is my greatest passion and I am not ready to leave the private sector.”
For four months in 2011 Trump topped some Republican primary polls, told interviewers he was "serious" and repeatedly promised a decision by June. He announced he would not run at NBC's advertiser upfront on May 16, 2011, in the same breath as announcing another season of Celebrity Apprentice. CNN's write-up the same day was headlined "Was he ever serious? How Trump strung the country along, again."
“[paraphrase] Trump announced a presidential exploratory committee on Larry King Live, said he could win, and campaigned in Florida, California and Minnesota — then quit.”
· CNN's Larry King Live
· ×4
Trump hired Roger Stone to run the exploratory committee, gave interviews as a candidate, and qualified for two Reform Party primaries. After Jesse Ventura — his loudest backer — left the party in February 2000, Trump ended the campaign on the February 14, 2000 broadcast of NBC's Today. He never expanded past the exploratory phase. It set the template for the 2011, 2012 and 2014 teases that followed.