Wisconsin reporter Scott Bauer reported exclusively on audio provided by a source of a secretly recorded meeting in 2020 of then-President Donald Trump’s Wisconsin campaign team members acknowledging his defeat in the state two days earlier, but also discussing how they planned to “fan the flame” of the lie that he won. Bauer received the audio from a longtime GOP source he has developed for more than a decade. Within hours, Bauer had a first draft of his report ready and then interviewed several of the key players to verify the veracity of the recording and to elicit comments for the story. The story moved exclusively on AP and was unmatched by others until later in the week. The story provided new insight that at least some members of Trump’s campaign staff in a pivotal battleground state knew Trump lost the 2020 election but were urged to foment an alternative reality nonetheless.
Trump campaign staff on 2020 election lies: ‘fan the flame’
voter casts her ballot on Election Day, on Nov. 3, 2020, at the Marshall High School in Milwaukee. An audio recording of a strategy meeting obtained Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, by The Associated Press shows, that the leaders of then-President Donald Trump's reelection campaign in battleground Wisconsin conceded privately the day after the 2020 election that he had lost, praising Democratic turnout efforts and focusing instead on spreading the lie that Democrats had stolen the election.
AP PHOTO/MORRY GASH