On Saturday, President Joe Biden said that President Donald Trump did not sign Illinois’ optional “loyalty oath” because it included language that candidates on the ballot would “not directly or indirectly teach or advocate the overthrow of the government of the United States…by force or any unlawful means.”
In a post on X, Biden said,
“I said Donald Trump is willing to sacrifice our democracy to put himself in power. I wasn’t exaggerating.”
The post then included a graphic of Trump with a citation from the Chicago Sun-Times: “Donald Trump didn’t sign loyalty oath for Illinois ballot that pledges not to ‘advocate the overthrow of the government.’”
But there’s one very important piece of information that Biden deliberately left out of his deceptive and misleading statement: the candidate also pledges that they are a resident of the State of Illinois.
In September of 2019, President Trump filed paperwork changing his permanent residence to his Mar-a-Lago estate located at 1100 South Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach, Florida. Prior to 2019, Trump listed his home on Fifth Avenue in New York as his permanent residence.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung issued a statement immediately after Biden’s post.
“President Trump will once again take the oath of office on January 20th, 2025, and will swear ‘to faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
On January 4, 2024, Biden filed his “loyalty oath” and his petitions with the Illinois State Board of Elections, but he didn’t use the form that he’s accusing Trump of not signing. Instead, he used a form from the District of Columbia and not the one provided by Illinois. Biden also listed Delaware as his residence.
The loyalty oath has always been optional for candidates in Illinois, but for President Trump to sign Illinois’ loyalty oath where he would be forced to claim that he was a resident of Illinois is untrue and it would leave Democrat operatives and lawyers the opportunity to challenge his ballot access and file lawsuits.
In national polls, Trump is leading Biden in key swing states creating a nightmare scenario for Democrats.
Trump continues to dominate the Republican presidential primary field and he’s leading his fellow challengers by a staggering 32 points in Iowa.
Illinois’ primary election is March 19th.
