'I won 2020 election by millions of votes': Donald Trump slams Biden's ‘autopen pardons', calls Jan 6 probe a 'corrupt and vicious witch hunt'
In yet another fiery post, US President
reignited his long-standing claims that the
was rigged.
Trump doubled down on a claim he's made before: that the use of an autopen to issue pardons was illegal.
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Taking to his
account on Saturday, Trump launched a scathing attack on President
, former President Barack Obama, the congressional committee that investigated the January 6 Capitol riot, and what he called the 'Radical Left Democrats.'
The centrepiece of his rant was a dramatic allegation that pardons issued to members of the committee were invalid because Biden allegedly did not sign them himself, instead using an autopen.
'Whoever had control of the 'AUTOPEN' is looking to be a bigger and bigger scandal by the moment,' Trump wrote. 'It is a major part of the real crime, THAT THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2020 WAS RIGGED AND STOLEN!'
An autopen is a mechanical device that replicates a person's signature using a robotic arm with a pen. Although it remains unclear whether Biden actually used an autopen to issue any pardons, Trump insisted that doing so rendered them illegal.
US presidents, including Barack Obama, John F. Kennedy, and even Thomas Jefferson are known to have used autopens during their time in office. The device is often used for routine or ceremonial documents when the president is unavailable.
However, Trump is now claiming that the pardons granted to the so-called 'Unselect Committee of Political Thugs' are 'VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT' because of the supposed use of the autopen.
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'The 'Pardons' that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of
, and many others, are hereby declared VOID... because of the fact that they were done by Autopen,' Trump posted in March, resurfacing the same claim on Saturday.
He went on to accuse those pardoned unnamed but presumed to be members or affiliates of the Jan. 6 committee, of deleting and destroying evidence from what he called a 'corrupt and vicious witch hunt' against him.
'Millions and millions of people knew that... the
waged a campaign of inoculation and innocence like none that had ever been waged before,' he said.
Trump tied the controversy back to his long-standing grievance over the 2020 election result and continued to claim that Republicans won, writing, 'THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WAS RIGGED! I (MAGA!) WON THE ELECTION BY MILLIONS OF VOTES, AND EVERYONE KNOWS IT.'
In his concluding remarks, Trump said: 'GOD BLESS AMERICA, FOR THE FIGHT HAS JUST BEGUN!!!'
There has been no official confirmation from the White House about the use of an autopen for pardons related to the January 6 probe.
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