One of Maine’s two Democratic members of the House of Representatives is ripping his state’s secretary of state for unilaterally removing former President Donald Trump from the 2024 Republican primary.
“I voted to impeach Donald Trump for his role in the January 6 uprising. I do not believe he should be re-elected as President of the United States,” Rep. Jared Golden said in a statement late Thursday.
“However, we are a nation of laws, therefore, until he is actually found guilty of the crime of sedition, he should be allowed on the ballot,” added Golden, who represents rural Maine’s 2nd District, which Trump carried in 2016. and 2020.
Golden was joined in his criticism of Maine Secretary of State Shanna Bellows’ decision by Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with Democrats in the upper house of Congress.
Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) blasted his state’s chief elections officer Thursday for unilaterally kicking former President Donald Trump off the 2024 Republican primary ballot. CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
King noted that although he had voted to convict Trump of sedition in February 2021 after the 45th president was impeached by the House, “the required two-thirds of the Senate did not do so.”
“While I respect the Secretary of State’s careful process … absent a final judicial determination of a violation of the 14th Amendment’s disqualification clause, I believe the decision as to whether Mr. Trump should be considered again for the presidency should be left to the people. as stated in a free and fair election,” added King. “This is the ultimate check on our Constitutional system.”
Trump is the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, leading national polls by more than 50 percentage points, according to the RealClearPolitics average.
“I voted to impeach Donald Trump for his role in the January 6 uprising. I do not believe he should be re-elected President of the United States,” Golden said in a statement. X/@RepGolden
Polling aggregators also show him ahead of President Biden in the national popular vote.
Bellows disqualified Trump from the March 5 primary, saying his efforts to nullify the 2020 election that led to the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, constituted “rebellion.”
His decision follows a Dec. 19 Colorado Supreme Court decision to the same effect, with both sides pointing to a prohibition in the 14th Amendment that prevents those who have been “engaged in rebellion” from holding office again.
Democratic Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows disqualified Trump from her state’s March 5 primary, saying his efforts that led to the Capitol riots were “rebellious.” AP
“I do not take this conclusion lightly. Democracy is sacred,” Bellows wrote in his 34-page decision. “I am aware that no Secretary of State has ever deprived a presidential candidate of voting access based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
“I’m also aware, however, that no presidential candidate has ever been involved in a riot,” he said, calling the riots at the Capitol “unprecedented and tragic,” he added.
Bellows’ decision was supported by Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), who said in a statement: “The text of the Fourteenth Amendment is clear. No one involved in rebellion against the government can serve in elected office again.
Trump is the frontrunner for his party’s presidential nomination by more than 50 percentage points, according to the RealClearPolitics average. Reuters
“On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump incited violent mobs to prevent Congress from certifying the Electoral College and to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,” Pingree added. “Our Constitution is the foundation of America and our laws, and it appears that Trump’s actions are prohibited by the Constitution.”
The Colorado Republican Party has appealed the state Supreme Court’s decision to the US Supreme Court after Colorado judges stayed their decision until January 4, which would have allowed Trump to remain on the ballot until then.
Colorado has to certify all presidential candidates nominated by political parties by Jan. 5, meaning the Supreme Court must decide whether to take up the state GOP’s appeal before then.
Polling aggregators also show Trump leading President Biden in recent weeks by at least 2% nationally. AFP via Getty Images
The Michigan Supreme Court declined to rule along similar lines on Dec. 27 in response to a complaint filed in his state, keeping the former president in the Feb. 27 primary.
On Thursday, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber also opted to retain Trump, 77, in her state’s GOP primary.
The Trump campaign praised the Michigan high court’s decision but attacked the four Colorado judges who sided with Bellows, with a spokesman calling him a “hyperpartisan Biden-supporting Democrat.”
Lawyers for the president have already sought to disqualify Bellows by pointing to past social media posts as evidence he “concluded that President Trump engaged in treason” and should disqualify himself rather than decide his eligibility.
The Trump campaign promised to “immediately file a legal challenge in state court to prevent this draconian decision in Maine from taking effect,” but has yet to petition the US Supreme Court over the Colorado decision.
Colorado and California will host their primary elections on March 5, the day after the former president is scheduled to appear in Washington, DC, federal court for the start of his trial related to the events of January 6, 2021.
Special counsel Jack Smith indicted Trump in August on four counts: conspiracy to defraud the US government, conspiracy to obstruct official proceedings, obstructing and attempting to obstruct official proceedings, and conspiracy against rights.
However, the case stalled after US District Judge Tanya Chutkan rejected a motion from Trump’s defense team that argued his attempt to challenge the results of the 2020 election was protected by presidential immunity.
Smith asked the Supreme Court this month to step in and issue an expedited ruling on the motion, which was denied, all but guaranteeing that Trump’s trial would be delayed.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
