Ever since Donald Trump was kicked out of the White House, he has been spreading the lie about voter fraud. Now the 76-year-old has upped his usual propaganda and called for his reinstatement as president — 22 months after his resounding defeat by Joe Biden. "Announce the rightful winner," Trump wrote on the online platform Truth Social, which he co-founded, leaving no doubt that he means himself, "or — and that would be the minimum solution — declare the 2020 election irreparably compromised and hold a new election, now!"

Trump was responding to a recent appearance by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. There, Zuckerberg explained that in the run-up to the 2020 election, the FBI had warned Facebook to be on "high alert" for "Russian propaganda" to come. Zuckerberg clarified that the federal police did not specifically mention Joe Biden's son Hunter's laptop. But at the time, Facebook decided to restrict the New York Post's newsfeed ranking of alleged telly stories about Hunter Biden from the tabloid New York Post for a few days while fact-checkers determined whether they were true or not. As a result, significantly fewer of these stories were shown in the news feeds in the last week of the election campaign.

The New York Post had claimed that leaked emails from Hunter Biden's laptop showed then-Vice President Joe Biden supporting his son's business in Ukraine. The reports reinforced unproven corruption allegations against Joe Biden.

"So now it turns out the FBI buried the HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP STORY before the election because they knew that if they hadn't, 'Trump would have easily won the 2020 presidential election,'" the ex ranted -President on Truth Social. "This is massive SCAM

Trump has long claimed that Hunter Biden was involved in illegal dealings with Russia and Ukraine, and campaigned against his father. So far he has not presented any evidence. In fact, even two Republican-led Senate committees could find no evidence of a violation just six weeks before the election.

Zuckerberg's comments aren't exactly new, but they shed more light on his testimony before the US Senate in October 2020, where the 38-year-old also stated that the FBI had ordered Facebook to be on high alert: "If a bunch Documents emerge that we should view them with suspicion that they could be part of a foreign manipulation attempt."

The FBI clarified that it "routinely" notifies private sector entities of potential threat indicators, but "cannot request or direct companies to take action based on the information received."

The constitutional expert and Harvard professor Lawrence Tribe made it clear on Twitter that he thinks Trump's demand is madness and jokingly suggested that the Republican's push might just be a tactic and that he wanted to get rid of his numerous legal problems: "Trump is demanding a 'new election ' that could make him president again," Tribe wrote. "If he pleads insanity, here's free legal advice: it won't work."

Trump is currently in serious trouble with the US judiciary. On August 8, the FBI confiscated numerous confidential and sometimes top-secret documents from its property in Florida. By taking and storing these papers from the White House, the ex-president may have broken several laws, including the US Espionage Act. His latest truth-social tirade comes just a day after Trump reiterated his henchman Senator Lindsey Graham's prediction that there would be "riots in the streets" if the Justice Department indicted the former president for mishandling classified information.

Quellen: "Daily Beast", "Huffington Post", "Newsweek", "Rolling Stone", "New York Post"