Nicki Minaj Tells White House Aide Trump Has 'Won Three Elections' on Air Force One, but He Has Won Only Two

Nicki Minaj told Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, that Donald Trump had 'won three elections'. Trump has won two presidential elections. He won in 2016 and 2024 but lost the 2020 race to Joe Biden. Cheung posted the Air Force One exchange to X on Sunday 25 October.

The clip came from the president's own media team. Nine days before the 3 November midterms, Cheung joked that Minaj could be the next press secretary, and his caption did not mention the error. Trump called the 2020 election 'rigged' on at least 107 occasions over six months, a Reuters review found in May.

What Minaj Said on the Presidential Plane

Cheung and Minaj sat at a table on Air Force One as it flew to a Trump rally in Michigan. Cheung asked about the economy and polls, and Minaj credited Trump's business background for its growth. The false claim came when Cheung asked whether anyone worked harder than Trump, and she answered by citing his election record. Cheung captioned the clip, 'Ladies and gentlemen, I think we may have found the new White House Press Secretary!' Minaj shared it herself, as the post below shows.

Her reply carried only a US flag and a sweating, smiling face. She did not mention the job. In the same clip, Minaj called polls fake, invoking Hillary Clinton, and said they were meant to deter Republican voters. She has called herself the president's number one fan. Six days before the clip, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon had cast Minaj as the new press secretary in a comedy sketch on NBC.

What the Official 2020 Count Shows

Americans choose their president through the Electoral College. Each state's electors cast votes, and a candidate needs at least 270 of them to win. Certified results show Biden won the 2020 race with 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232. Biden also won more than 81 million votes, a record for any candidate, according to the Federal Election Commission. Trump's first win, over Hillary Clinton, came with nearly identical vote totals.

The Electoral College confirmed Biden's victory on 14 December 2020, when electors cast their votes for him. On the same day, Wisconsin's top court threw out one of the Trump campaign's latest bids to overturn the result there. Trump returned to the White House after beating Kamala Harris in November 2024, his second win in three races. Minaj's count adds a third win not in the official record.

Where the Press Secretary Search Stands

The press secretary job has been empty since Katie Zacharia left it on 16 October after five days. The White House had not named a replacement by 26 October. Nothing in Cheung's post, or in Minaj's reply, confirmed that Trump was considering Minaj for the position.

Minaj, born in Trinidad and Tobago, said in a September 2024 TikTok livestream that she was not a US citizen. The US Office of Personnel Management says federal jobs generally require US citizenship or nationality, though exceptions apply. In January, she said she was nearly done with her citizenship papers but has not confirmed that she finished them.