The move comes as Trump Biden traps in polls with female voters.
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he is holding a posthumous presidency for Susan B. Anthony, a leader of the women’s rights movement who was convicted in the 1872 presidential election of voting illegally – as a woman.
“Later today I will sign a full and complete pardon for Susan B. Anthony. She was never pardoned. Did you know that? She was never pardoned,” the president said, calling the move “fantastic.”
Trump made the announcement at a White House event to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment – giving women the right to vote. It was ratified on August 18, 1920, 14 years after Anthony’s death.
“She was guilty of voting. And we will sign a full and complete pardon,” Trump said.
Although he did not say so specifically, the symbolic gesture appeared to be aimed, at least in part, at female voters Trump is looking to the courthouse for the election – as investigations show that the demographics currently favor former vice presidents Joe Biden.
It also comes amid Trump’s relentless claims, without proof, of widespread fraud when there is universal mail-in voting in the November election, and confirmation of concerns about disruptions to the Postal Service’s postal service. United States that Democrats claim a threat to the voting rights of millions of Americans who plan to vote by mail because of the pandemic.
While Trump – the “law and order” president – has intensified fears of illegal suffrage in the 2020 election, the irony is not lost on some that Anthony was just arrested.
In a widely publicized trial in 1873, Anthony protested what she called “high violation of my citizen’s rights” and said she “will never pay a dollar of your unjust fine.” She never did, and the authorities refused to take further action.
“We need to have honest voting,” Trump said at the same event Tuesday, continuing his attacks on mail-in votes. “That’s what this’s all about. We need to have honest voices.”
The president first announced on Monday that he would forgive a “very, very important” person, only adding at the moment that it would be no better Edward Snowden than Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser.
Anthony does not fit the typical model for a Trump pardon, mostly reserved for those he knows personally.
Most recently, Trump recently admitted a controversial confession to his longtime political adviser Roger Stone, who was convicted on several charges in connection with Russian interference in the 2016 elections, including lies to federal officials.
Remarkably, she has been criticized in recent years, with some claiming she sidelined Black women in the suffrage movement.
ABC News’ Jordyn Phelps contributed to this report.
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