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Various members of the Trump administration and other key advisors close to the former president responded differently to his refusal to accept the outcome of the 2020 election. The vast majority either amplified or failed to challenge his false claims of fraud and none pushed to hold him accountable for brazenly lying to the public about the legitimacy of the election results.
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Steve Bannon, a former Navy lieutenant and investment banker, is a filmmaker, media executive, provocateur and political extremist who served as the CEO of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and briefly advised him in his official role as White House chief strategist.
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John Eastman is a right-wing lawyer and law professor who advised Trump on ways to hold on to the presidency despite losing the 2020 election. He has subsequently been subpoenaed by both the House Select Committee and the Justice Department in their ongoing investigations of the insurrection.
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Jenna Ellis is a right-wing Christian lawyer who served as a legal adviser to Trump during his final year in office. Although she has never litigated in a federal or district court, she describes herself as a “constitutional law attorney.” In 2019 she joined the Trump administration as a “senior legal advisor and subsequently played a role in challenging the outcome of the 2020 election.
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Boris Epshteyn is a right-wing attorney and political consultant who was an advisor to Trump’s 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. In 2017, he became chief political analyst for Sinclair Broadcast Group, which reportedly worked with the 2016 Trump campaign to generate favorable coverage of the candidate.
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Michael Flynn is a retired lieutenant general, right-wing political advisor, and key Trump ally who promoted ideas about declaring martial law and using military intervention to keep the ex-president in the White House after the 2020 election had been called for Biden.
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Rudy Giuliani is a right-wing lawyer, politician, and former mayor of New York City who helped Trump strategize about potential lawsuits and other options for overturning the results of the 2020 election after the president lost his bid for a second term.
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Mark Meadows is a right-wing Republican and Trump ally who served North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District in the House of Representatives from 2013–20 before becoming the former president’s chief of staff in 2020. He was closely involved with Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and a key witness who ultimately refused to cooperate with the House Select Committee investigating the attack on the Capitol.
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Peter Navarro is an economist and professor emeritus who served in several advisory roles in the Trump administration, including as assistant to the president, director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, and national policy coordinator for the Defense Production Act.
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Reince Priebus served as chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) from 2011–17 and also briefly served as Trump’s White House chief of staff from Jan. 20–July 31, 2017. Previously he chaired the Wisconsin Republican Party and practiced law in Wisconsin.
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Dan Scavino has worked for Trump since he was hand-picked to be his caddy at the age of 16. As a member of the administration, he served as deputy chief of staff for communications from 2019–21 and as deputy chief for social media from 2017–21.