White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt taunted CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Monday in a showdown over pardons issued by Joe Biden but signed with an autopen.
It came after President Donald Trump posted on social media that some of Biden’s last-minute pardons were ‘void’ because they were allegedly signed electronically without his knowledge.
When CNN star Collins asked Leavitt if there was any ‘evidence’ supporting Trump’s claim, she replied: ‘You’re a reporter, you should find out…’
Trump had questioned the validity of Biden’s pardons, claiming the former president had no idea what his autopen signature was being used for.
The President wrote on Truth Social: ‘The “Pardons” that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen.’
Collins asked Leavitt if the president’s legal advisers had spoken to the president before he posted his claim on social media.
Leavitt responded: ‘The president (Trump) was raising the point, did the president (Biden) even know about these pardons? Was his legal signature used without his consent or knowledge?’
She again pointed to reporters asking the question about Trump’s post to investigate whether Biden was cognitive about the pardons his signature were used to approve.
‘The president was begging the question that I think a lot of journalists in this room should be asking,’ Leavitt replied.
‘And so I think it’s a question that everybody in this room should be looking into, because certainly that would propose perhaps criminal or illegal behavior if staff members were signing the president of the United States autograph without his consent,’ she continued.
Trump claimed that Biden ‘know nothing’ about the pardons and raised the question whether his staff had committed a crime.
‘The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden. He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime,’ he wrote.
Trump additionally threatened to prosecute those who participated in the multiple investigations into his presidency, including members of Congress who sat on the committee to investigate the January 6th riots on Capitol Hill.
‘Therefore, those on the Unselect Committee, who destroyed and deleted ALL evidence obtained during their two year Witch Hunt of me, and many other innocent people, should fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level,’ he added.