Firebrand Representative Matt Gaetz and at least 65 House Republicans launched a resolution on Tuesday stating that former President Donald Trump “has not engaged in rebellion or sedition against the United States.”
The one-page resolution attempts to undercut the justification for removing Trump from state ballots across the country. This comes as the Supreme Court prepares to hear oral arguments on the Colorado matter on Thursday.
“We are here today to state authoritatively that President Trump did not commit treason and we believe Congress has a unique role in making that declaration,” Gaetz (R-Fla.) explained at a news conference.
“It is time for members of the House and Senate to show where they stand on this question.”
Gaetz, 41, was flanked by numerous members of the State Legislature including Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the measure’s original co-sponsor.
Consistent with the House resolution, Senator JD Vance (D-Ohio) introduced a companion bill in the Senate.
“From the President onward, Democrats have abused our judicial system to disenfranchise millions of Americans and remove Donald Trump from the ballot,” Vance said in a statement.
About 65 House Republicans support efforts to declare that Donald Trump is not an insurgent. AFP via Getty Images
“It’s a very dangerous precedent they’re setting — all based on a discredited legal theory of the application of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
In December, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump was disqualified from the state’s primary ballot after concluding that he engaged in “voluntary and direct participation in rebellion.”
The Centennial State high court used Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, also known as the Disqualification Clause to disqualify him from the ballot.
The clause states that “No person shall…hold any office, civil or military, under the United States…have engaged in rebellion or insurrection against the same, or given aid or comfort to his enemies.”
Matt Gaetz has been a staunch ally of Donald Trump in the House. Getty Images
Right after Colorado, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, unilaterally moved to disqualify her from that state’s primary ballot as well.
Both decisions are in limbo amid the Supreme Court’s ruling on Colorado. Both states also have their Republican presidential contests scheduled for March 5.
Supporters of the effort to tear Trump from the ballot point to his action revolve around January 6, 2021, ransacking the Capitol.
Trump also faces a four-count indictment from the Department of Justice for alleged 2020 election subversion and a 13-count indictment from Georgia for alleged 2020 election interference.
Donald Trump delivered a speech on the White House elliptical before the Capitol riots broke out. AFP via Getty Images
“The bottom line is that President Trump is not an insurgent, nor is he inciting an insurgency,” Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.), who co-sponsored the resolution, said in a statement.
“This narrative is just a political distraction from the failures of the Biden Administration, reaching a crippling economy, record inflation, foreign policy mistakes, to his destruction of the border.”
Cory Mills seconded the resolution. CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images
Trump has faced challenges to his voting status in at least 35 states, according to the New York Times. So far Maine and Colorado are the only two states where he has been disqualified pending an appeal.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has not yet confirmed plans to take the resolution to a floor vote, according to Gaetz.
“I sat next to him for seven years on the Judiciary Committee, so I’m pretty sure where he stands,” Gaetz explained.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
