Fact Check: Did Donald Trump say 'they rigged the election and I became president' at press conference?

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump's latest remark at a White House event had many scratching their heads.

A video of Trump went viral recently, where he allegedly said, “They rigged the election, and I became president." People were debating whether he was talking about 2020 or 2024—and it had conspiracy theorists foaming at the mouth.

The claim made its way across Instagram, Bluesky, and X, with social media users dissecting every word—some insisting Trump was admitting to election rigging, while others were convinced he was calling out his enemies.

Fact Check: Yes, Donald Trump actually said it—but context is everything

First things first: the video is 100% real. No deepfakes, no AI trickery—this is straight from a White House news conference on March 7, Snopes confirmed.

Trump was meeting with FIFA President Gianni Infantino to sign an executive order establishing a special White House task force for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be hosted across the US, Canada, and Mexico.

The moment in question happens around the 2:46 mark of the conference, when Trump reacted to Infantino hyping up the scale of the tournament.

"I love what he said, like three Super Bowls a day for a month. That's what it is," he said. "That's really amazing when you think of it. I've never heard that expression. That's a lot. You know when we made this [plan] it was made during my term, my first term, and it was so sad because they said, 'Can you imagine? I'm [you're] not going to be president. And that's too bad.'"

"And what happened is, they rigged the election, and I became president. So that was a good thing, that was a good thing, that was quite an achievement for both of us. So I'll be president during the World Cup," the President added.

The statement was particularly shocking since Trump has spent years claiming the 2020 election was “stolen” from him. When he suddenly said an election was rigged in his favor, it was enough to send social media into a frenzy.

The biggest question is which election he was talking about. The clip doesn’t specify, leaving plenty of room for interpretation. 

Some took this as a Freudian slip, proof that Trump was admitting the 2024 election was manipulated in his favor. Others argued that he was referring to the 2020 election, but he was basically mocking the idea that he was kept out of office unfairly.

Analysts pointed out that Trump has made similar statements in the past. He has often referenced the idea that if the 2020 election hadn’t been “stolen” from him, he would have completed his second term by 2024—meaning he wouldn’t have been able to run again.

In that sense, election “rigging” did lead to him becoming president—just not in the way some are interpreting it.

Donald Trump says 'tension is a good thing'

While the election comment stole the headlines, the FIFA news conference was packed with notable moments.

Infantino tried to keep things focused on soccer, talking up the $40 billion economic boost the World Cup will bring and the 200,000 jobs expected to be created. But Trump couldn’t resist turning the conversation into a victory lap for his presidency.

"We have the Olympics, the World Cup, and number 250," he bragged, referencing America’s 250th birthday celebration in 2026. "You don’t get very much bigger than that."

There were also some diplomatic fireworks. When asked about the US' relations with Mexico and Canada—which have been rocky due to ongoing trade disputes—Trump responded, "Tension's a good thing. Even for the World Cup? Yeah, I think so. I think it makes it much more exciting."

With something as massive as the 2026 FIFA World Cup, security is a major concern. Homeland Security officials laid out plans for incident command centers in host cities, coordinating efforts with local law enforcement.

Infantino also used the event to unveil the FIFA Club World Cup trophy and present Trump with the official match ball.

The tournament is expected to draw 10 million visitors to North America, making it one of the biggest sporting events in history.