Donald Trump for the first time on Saturday said he would have been OK if he lost the 2020 election fairly as he spoke for nearly two hours to thousands of supporters at an election integrity event in Phoenix.
'I've got to tell you, I've got to say it. I've never said it before, but I've always thought it – If I lost the election, I'm OK with that. I'm OK with it. Seriously,' the former president said.
'If we lost the election, we lose an election,' he continued.
'I'll go home. I'll start building buildings. I'll do something. I'll keep myself busy. But you know what, if we lost the election – we know when we lose.'
The former president, however, said he knows that he didn't lose and therefore wants an investigation that proves so.
'This election was rigged,' he claimed. 'And they know it.'
Trump added: 'You know when you win and when you lose'
'If I lost this election, I could handle it pretty easily,' he said. 'When they steal if from you and rig it, that's not easy and we have to fight. We have no choice. We have to fight.'
He questioned why Democrats – and some Republican defectors – don't want an audit just to prove that they won fair and square.
Former President Donald Trump said during an election-focused rally in Phoenix, Arizona on Saturday that he would have been OK if he lost the 2020 election fairly
'I've got to tell you, I've got to say it. I've never said it before, but I've always thought it – If I lost the election, I'm OK with that,' Trump said. 'If we lost the election, we lose an election. I'll go home. I'll start building buildings. I'll do something. I'll keep myself busy'
The 'Protect Our Elections' event was hosted by Turning Point Action, which is a group aimed at de-seating Democratic politicians across the country.
Maricopa County has been at ground zero in the last three months for Trump's recount efforts.
WAR ON SPORTS
The former president also waged a war on sports during his remarks, railing against transgender women competing in women's sports; slamming Cleveland's baseball team for 'going woke' and changing its name from the Indians to the Gusradians; and praising the loss of the U.S. women's Soccer Team in Tokyo after the majority of the players knelt for the National Anthem.
'The radical left is determined to ruin everything in America. That's what they're doing,' Trump complained.
'Woke politics takes the life and joy out of everything,' he added. 'Woke-ism makes you lose, ruins your mind and ruins you as a person. You become wrapped, you become demented.'
'The U.S. Women's Soccer Team is a very good example of what's going on,' Trump said, and was met with a slew of laughs and cheers from the crowd.
'Earlier this week, they unexpectedly lost to Sweden, 3-0,' he recapped. 'And Americans were happy about it. You proved that point before I even said it.'
Trump was teed up for his speech with a dramatic video about his accomplishments as president
The event was hosted by Turning Point Action, the political action committee arm of conservative student organization Turning Point USA. Trump took stage at the 'Protect our Elections' rally in Phoenix, Arizona just before 4 p.m. MST on Saturday
U.S. women's soccer players took a knee during their opening match at the Olympics.
Ultimately, the U.S. ended up losing, and conservative activists lauded it on social media, claiming it was poetic justice for the team protesting against their own country on the international stage.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently relaxed the rules for protests at the Games, softening a long-standing ban on political protests at the global sporting event. IOC and Tokyo 2020 organizer, however, have banned the team's official social media pages from sharing photos of the protest.
Trump claimed 'radical leftists' are also ruining baseball.
'Now the left is in the process of destroying our national pass-time baseball,' he said.
'First we saw the embarrassing spectacle of the commissioner of baseball bowing to the radical left on voter fraud. You saw what they did. You saw they moved the All Star game,' he said in reference to the anual game being moved from Georgia after the state's legislature passed the controversial Election Integrity Act of 2021.
Cleveland's Major League Baseball team also just changed it's name to get rid of using Native Americans as their mascot, following suit with the former Washington Redskins, which changed their name temporarily to the Washington Football Team.
'Now, one of the most beloved and storied franchises in baseball, all of baseball – I watched it as a kid at Yankee Stadium. The Cleveland Indians will be changing their name,' Trump lamented. 'A name that was filled with history and memories.'
'The new name will be the Cleveland Guardians, which is terrible,' he said. 'The Cleveland Indians, you know that's such a – if I were an Indian, I would sue.'
'Sue them Indians!' the former president encouraged of Native Americans.
'It's one of the greatest names, one of the most incredible logos. People loved it.'
'They are going absolutely crazy in Ohio over the name change. The Cleveland Guardians? What's that all about? The insanity of the left knows no bounds and both Indians and baseball fans should be greatly insulted,' he said.
'They want to take away our history, our heritage, our culture and everything that holds us together.'
TRUMP REPEATED HIS ELECTION FRAUD CLAIMS
Trump spoke on Saturday to thousands of his supporters at Arizona Federal Theater, where nearly all seats were occupied, minus a small roped-off section behind the media risers.
He also went through a list of his greatest hits from the last year lamenting the validity and integrity of the 20202 election.
'We won, we really did,' Trump insisted. 'Not me, we all won.'
'Everyone here understands the 2020 election was a total disgrace. It was the most corrupt–' he said, but was cut off by cheers and chants from the audience of around 5,000.
'You're not going to have a future in 22 or 24 if you don't find out how they cheated with hundreds of thousands, and even millions of votes because you won't win anything,' Trump said, referencing the next two big election years.
The former president said the event on Saturday is to 'show our support for election integrity and the brave and irreverent warriors in the Arizona State Senate.'
The Arizona State Senate, which has a Republican majority, ordered the audit earlier this year.
TRUMP ACCUSES HUNTER'S ART BUYERS OF TRYING TO 'BRIBE' PRESIDENT BIDEN
Trump also took aim at Hunter Biden's artistic endeavors, claiming selling his pieces are a 'bribe' by purchasers to gain favor with President Joe Biden.
'It's a bribe, it's disgraceful and the fake news media is talking about it like it's OK,' he accused.
Hunter has taken up painting, claiming it helps with addiction recovery. He will appear at two different art exhibits in Los Angeles and New York City in the fall, the gallerist revealed, to sell large pieces, which are expected to go for half-a-million a piece.
The move was immediately slammed by critics who claim it is a wayf for buyers to gain undue influence over Hunter and his circle, which obviously includes his father, President Biden.
The White House insists the gallery will handle anything to do with the sale and the buyers will not be disclosed to Huner, the president or others within the administration.
'Could you imagine if my kids did that? Could you imagine?' Trump questioned to a jeering crowd.
'And now they're justifying, 'Well we want to make it non-transparent.,' he said in a mocking tone. 'No actually you should make it transparent, I guess. But actually you shouldn't make at all, because it's a bribe. It's a bribe. 100 per cent it's a bribe.'
He then specifically attacked Hunter's artwork, claiming that people who do portraits in Central Park are better than him – and they get paid way less, he noted.
'You know, you have good painters – for $250 you can have a portrait done in Central Park. Guys with pencils, they do so incredible. They're geniuses,' Trump said, then dumbfoundedly added, 'Hunter Biden's getting $500,000. It's a bribe.'
'THE GREEN NEW BULLS***'
In taking his criticism to the House of Representatives, Trump lambasted the progressive 'Green New Deal' as 'The Green New Bulls**'. The proposal sets forward a series of economic and social welfare programs aimed at addressing climate change and increasing government focus on the environment.
New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is among the lawmakers pushing the legislation, along with her Senate co-sponsor Ed Markey of Massachusetts.
'The Green New Deal. Gonna destroy our country, this Green New Deal. It's Green New Bulls***, OK. That;s what it is. It's bulls***,' he said.
Trump claimed the deal proposes 'no more windows in buildings, because environment.'
'You know, I always did great with these buildings. The bigger the window, the better I did. The bigger those windows – I wanted floor-to-ceiling windows. But they say you can't do that anymore.'
Trump, who made his money mostly in real estate, then went on to mock progressives, claiming they don't want any more windows in apartment buildings.
'It's going to be really hard to sell apartments, I think,' he said.
Then Trump said in mocking someone trying to sell an apartment without windows: 'We have a beautiful apartment and for environmental reasons we have not put windows in the building.'
'These people are crazy.'
In going off onto another environment-related tangent, Trump asked, 'What ever happened to cows?'
'Remember they were going to get rid of all the cows,' he continued. 'They stopped that. People didn't like that. Remember. You know why they were going to get rid of all the cows.'
'People will be next,' Trump conspiracized.
Ashli Babbitt's mother Michelle Witthoeft (right) attended Trump's rally as Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar's guest. She was joined by another woman holding a picture of Babbitt, who was killed by a Capitol Police Officer during the January 6 riot
Witthoeft and the other women held up signs and wore shirts that read 'Justice for Ashli'
THE PRE-TRUMP SHOW
The two opening acts for Trump were Congressmen Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs, who respectively represent Arizona's 4th and 5th districts in the U.S. House.
Biggs told the crowd that the first marshal informed him the theater was at maximum capacity. He made fun of President Joe Biden's CNN town hall in Cincinnati, Ohio last week where about 300 people were in attendance.
He also said Trump could be put back in office 'in 2024, if not sooner,' suggesting that the Arizona efforts will be successful and somehow he will be reinstated as president before the next election.
'Donald Trump will be back in the president's seat, returning to us the America First agenda,' he assured.
While Gosar spoke, he introduced Ashli Babbitt's mom, Michelle Witthoeft, who was attending the rally.
Babbitt, 35, was killed on January 6, 2021 by a Capitol Police Officer who shot her as she attempted to break through the House chamber doors with a group of rioters who stormed the complex in an attempt to stop Congress for certifying the election results for Biden.
'Who killed Ashli Babbitt?' Gosar questioned, pleading, 'I want you to hold your applause for one second,' before introducing his guest.
The late Air Force veteran's mother was holding a poster with an image of Babbitt in front of the Capitol and donning a shirt that read 'Justice for Ashli'. Witthoeft was joined by another woman, who remained unidentified, but was holding up a poster with Babbitt's face on it.
It did not appear any rally attendees were wearing face coverings, but several were wearing comically large red foam 'Make America Great Again' hats.
The lack of masks comes as COVID-19 cases are surging across the country with the emergence of the Delta variant, and some cities are reimposing mask mandates indoors on even vaccinated individuals.
Phoenix has a population of 1.63 million people and it's current rolling 7-day average of new cases sits at 1,113. Los Angeles, one of the biggest areas spiking with COVID-19 right now, has a rolling average of 2,104 new cases per day.
Kari Lake, who was the crowd favorite gubernatorial candidate of the night, said if elected, she will issue pardons for businesses who decided to stay open amid shut downs and for those who are prosecuted for violating federal mask mandates.
The governorship in Arizona is wide open for the taking in 2022 as Republican Governor Doug Ducey comes to the end of his second and final term. Arizona law states governors are limited to eight years serving – or two consecutive four-year terms.
Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Ducey, who has broken with the former president's on his fraud claims. Ducey, Trump says, is to blame for Arizona not already overturning the election results.
In an April statement, Trump said: 'Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona, one of the worst Governors in America, and the second worst Republican Governor in America, is refusing to provide security for the American Patriots who are hand counting the Rigged 2020 Arizona Election Ballots.'
More recently, on Friday, Trump lauded that Ducey will not run to represent Arizona in the Senate as current Democratic Senator Mark Kelly comes up for reelection.
'Good news!' Trump wrote. 'RINO Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona has restated the fact that he is not running for the United States Senate. It would not matter, however, because he could not get the nomination after failing to perform on the Voter Fraud in Arizona. Also, there is no way he would get my endorsement, which means, his aspirations would be permanently put to rest anyway.'
He added: 'Again, thank you to our brave Republicans in the Arizona State Senate for their bravery in putting forward the Forensic Audit. Everybody is anxiously awaiting the result!'
One Republican vying to take Kelly's seat was met with a huge round of applause when he said ahead of Trump's remarks: 'Put Mark Kelly back in space with [Jeff] Bezos.'
The Arizona Federal Theatre was at max capacity on Saturday, according to the fire marshal. There are 5,000 seats in the venue
Kelly, a former astronaut, flipped the seat blue after defeating incumbent Republican Martha McSally in a special election after she took over in the interim following Senator John McCain's death.
Trump repeated his claims of widespread voter fraud throughout the evening as he spoke to his supporters of a rigged election.
'You can't tell me that President Trump didn't win, because he ran through the Democrats like crap through a goose,' Arizona State Representative Walter Blackman said in an awkward simile.
Blackman then led the room in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Meanwhile, the Arizona recount audit was thrown into chaos last week.
Ken Bennett, a former Arizona secretary of state and liaison to the state Senate for the recount, lost privileges to the building where the effort is taking place, according to recent reports.
The rally Saturday comes after a dramatic turn of events Friday when Ken Bennett, who was acting as the liaison to the Arizona Senate on the election audit, was banned from the building where the recount is taking place
The once-president of the state Senate was the only person involved with the recount in Maricopa with experience in elections.
Previously, he was referred to as the 'director' of the recount, but the Arizona Republic reported on Friday Bennett was not allowed in the state fairgrounds building where the audit is happening.
It comes after he shared data with outside critics from an ongoing ballot recount.
The Arizona State Senate, which is majority Republican, has paid $150,000 of the $9 million the election audit is reportedly costing. The state has a GOP trifecta, meaning the governor is a Republican and the House and Senate have a Republican majority.
Now that Bennett, the Senate's liaison for the recount, has been banned, it has become unclear who is in charge of the review, which was ordered by the Arizona State Senate.
Those senators in the state are also supposed to be overseeing the recount.
Arizona is a swing state that Trump lost to Biden in 2020 by just 0.3 per cent. He claims he only lost the state because of widespread fraud in Maricopa County, where he earned 995,665 votes to Biden's 1,040,774, according to the official ballot count from the state.
But the former president's most staunch supporters, several thousand of whom are in attendance at Saturday's rally, claim a lack of voter integrity is to blame for Biden beating Trump.
Bennett (right) helps move 2020 presidential ballots as the Maricopa County recount ensued on May 1, 2021
Cyber Ninjas was hired by the Arizona State Senate for the election audit. Here contractors examine and recount 2020 ballots at Veterans Memorial Coliseum on May 1 in Phoenix
Trump has insisted since he lost the election in November that Biden only won because Democrats used pandemic-era expanded mail-in voting laws to illegally sway the election in swing states.
Specifically he has aimed his attention at Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania, the three states that were the subject of GOP lawmakers' objections to the election results during the January 6, 2021 certification of the Electoral College results.
Trump took the stage around 3:55 p.m. MST to speak with a few thousand of his supporters who also feel the election was stolen. He was almost an hour late.
A retired Army soldier and now Uber driver told DailyMail.com on Friday that there are a lot of Republicans in the area who are willing to fight to overturn the election results for Trump – even just in an effort to make sure the state stays red.
Attendees are decked out in pro-America and pro-Trump swag.
One group held up a giant flag that said 'Trump Won' inside the theatre, and another group had Trump's face on the American flag with the words 'I'll be back'.
Trump often sends statements from his Save America Political Action Committee email railing against the Arizona results and those he feels are trying to prevent the recount.
Most recently, he wrote on Thursday Arizona State Senator Paul Boyer is trying to prevent the evidence from coming out from the audit.
Trump supporters hold up a sign insisting 'Trump Won' before the former president arrives for his remarks on Saturday, July 24, 2021
'Republican Arizona State Senator Paul Boyer, a RINO if there ever was one, is doing everything in his power to hold up the damning Forensic Audit of Maricopa County,' Trump wrote. 'The people of Arizona are demanding it.'
'All we demand is Voter Integrity!' he insisted, before stopping short of endorsing Former Arizona House of Representatives member Anthony Kern, who is running against Boyer.
Arizona's Senate brought in Cyber Ninjas in May to conduct a third recount audit, after two other election audits found no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
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