President Trump mounted a vigorous effort to challenge the results of the 2020 election. He has asserted that victory was stolen from him through fraud and other illegalities.

He and his lawyers pursued several strategies for challenging the election, including filing lawsuits, attempting to convince state and federal officials to launch investigations, arranging alternative electors in several states, rallying supporters, and suggesting the vice president had the power to reject electoral votes from states where fraud was alleged to have tainted the results. None of these pursuits succeeded in overturning the election.

The prosecutors for this case claim the former president also bears responsibility for a riot that occurred during the Jan. 6, 2021, "Stop the Steal" rally at the U.S. Capitol that disrupted the counting of electoral votes by Congress for several hours. They argue that President Trump encouraged the riot by calling for the rally and then telling the massive crowd that had gathered for his speech: "We fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."

President Trump's lawyers have argued he used the word "fight" in the sense of a political fight. The allegedly incriminating words came at the end of his hour-long speech, while the riot was started by a smaller group of people about 15 minutes before the speech concluded.

Earlier in the speech, the president also exhorted his supporters in the crowd to go to the Capitol and "peacefully and patriotically" make their voices heard.

President Trump's lawyers have tried to have the charges dismissed, so far unsuccessfully, for encroaching on his constitutional free speech and due process rights and violating presidential privilege, as well as for malicious prosecution and for improperly stretching the law.

Several legal experts told The Epoch Times that President Trump's best chance to have the charges tossed is at the Supreme Court. At the D.C. Court of Appeals, the possibility is mixed at best, while at the D.C. District Court, his chances are slim.