President Donald Trump announced a posthumous pardon for women’s suffragist Susan B. Anthony on Tuesday, marking the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, The New York Times reports.
Anthony was convicted of voting illegally and fined $100 in 1872 amid her push to expand voting rights to women.
“She was never pardoned. Did you know that? She was never pardoned,” Trump said. “What took so long?”
“She was guilty for voting,” he added, “and we’re going to be signing a full and complete pardon.”
Trump previously said on Monday that he was planning to pardon someone “very, very important.”
Susan B. Anthony increasingly controversial:
Though hailed for her work in expanding voting rights to women, Anthony has become an “increasingly divisive figure,” the Times noted, adding that she was “adopted by anti-abortion forces and criticized for relegating Black suffragists to the sidelines.”
Trump’s remarks came as he was flanked by Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List, and Cleta Mitchell, an attorney for conservative groups.
Pardon comes amid criticism:
The pardon came amid criticism of Trump’s attacks on voting access as well as his struggles with women in the polls.
Trump’s comments came as he continued to push false claims about mail voting.
He also lashed out at former first lady Michelle Obama and former President Barack Obama.
“She was over her head and frankly she should have made the speech live which she didn’t do,” Trump said of Michelle Obama’s convention speech, in which she severely criticized his coronavirus response and leadership. “I thought it was a very divisive speech, extremely divisive.”
Trump said if her husband had done a better job, he would still be “building buildings someplace” and “having a good time.”
He claimed that Obama had “very bad reviews” for its handling of the H1N1 pandemic, though Americans overwhelmingly approved of Obama’s response.
