Stand up for the facts!

Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.

More Info

I would like to contribute

$
Facebook posts
Facebook posts
stated on February 8, 2022 in a Facebook post:

“MSNBC announced Trump won 2020 election.”

Pants on Fire!
By Ciara O'Rourke
February 10, 2022

No, MSNBC didn’t announce Donald Trump won the 2020 election

If your time is short

  • An MSNBC clip was mischaracterized as evidence that the network announced Donald Trump won the 2020 election. A guest who was a former Trump aide made the claim, and the show’s host called it false.
 
See the sources for this fact-check

The title of a recent, widely viewed Facebook video makes an unlikely claim: “MSNBC announced Trump won 2020 election.”

It’s wrong. 

This Feb. 8 post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

In the nearly 11-minute long video, MSNBC is mentioned once. 

“MSNBC announced — had somebody, a guest on, and in that conversation it came out that the 2020 election was stolen from President Trump and that he won,” a woman says. “And I have a clip of that.”

A clip is then played in which a man says: “Ari, my statement stands for itself. I’m happy to provide evidence of the overwhelming fraud that happened in the 2020 election to you, to the committee, to Democrats, to RINOs, to anybody out there. This election was stolen from President Trump. President Trump won the 2020 election.”

We found the MSNBC show that the clip comes from. It was a Jan. 21 episode of “The Beat with Ari Melber.” The man speaking was one of his guests, Boris Epshteyn, a former aide to then-President Donald Trump. 

RELATED VIDEO
 

But in the original episode, Melber, the host of the MSNBC show, quickly pushed back against that claim — a moment omitted from the Facebook video. 

“So in the vein of that false claim, I want to show you some of what you and…” Melber said in the show before he was interrupted by Epshteyn. 

“False according to you,” Epshteyn said. 

“Well, the Supreme Court,” Melber said. “The results. You’re aware that President Biden is in the White House.”

He is. He won the 2020 presidential election. And MSNBC did not report otherwise.

We rate this post Pants on Fire!

Our Sources

Facebook post, Feb. 8, 2022

MSNBC, Transcript: The Beat with Ari Melber, Jan. 21, 2022

 

Browse the Truth-O-Meter

More by Ciara O'Rourke
Viral image
stated on April 2, 2025 in a Facebook post:
“White hats to investigate Wisconsin Supreme Court election.”
False
Facebook posts
stated on March 28, 2025 in a Facebook post:
Photo shows a missing police officer in “extreme danger.”
Pants on Fire!
Facebook posts
stated on March 28, 2025 in a Facebook post:
Images show damage from an “earthquake in Thailand.”
False

No, MSNBC didn’t announce Donald Trump won the 2020 election

Jon Ossoff
stated on June 27, 2026 in a campaign speech:









Donald Trump
stated on June 23, 2026 in a speech in Macungie, Pennsylvania:

David Jolly
stated on June 11, 2026 in a speech:

Marsha Blackburn
stated on June 19, 2026 in an X post:





Steve Robinson
stated on June 5, 2026 in Fox News “The Ingraham Angle”:

Josh Hokit
stated on June 14, 2026 in a UFC event at the White House:


Donald Trump
stated on May 22, 2026 in remarks in Suffern, New York: