Maine’s Democrat Secretary of State Shenna Bellows on Thursday removed Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 presidential ballot.

Bellows cited the ‘insurrection clause’ from the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

“Specifically, I find that the declaration on his candidate consent form is false because he is not qualified to hold the office of the President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment,” the order read.

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From CNN:

The decision makes Maine the second state to disqualify Trump from office, after the Colorado Supreme Court handed down its own stunning ruling that removed him from the ballot earlier this month. The development is a significant victory for Trump’s critics, who say they’re trying to enforce a constitutional provision that was designed to protect the country from anti-democratic insurrectionists.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, issued the decision Thursday after presiding over an administrative hearing earlier this month about Trump’s eligibility for office. A bipartisan group of former state lawmakers filed the challenge against Trump.

Bellows’ decision can be appealed in state court, and it’s all but assured that Trump’s side will challenge this outcome.

“The Maine Secretary of State is a former ACLU attorney, a virulent leftist and a hyper-partisan Biden-supporting Democrat who has decided to interfere in the presidential election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden,” a statement from the Trump campaign read.

“We are witnessing, in real-time, the attempted theft of an election and the disenfranchisement of the American voter,” it added.

“We will quickly file a legal objection in state court to prevent this atrocious decision in Maine from taking effect, and President Trump will never stop fighting to Make America Great Again,” Trump Campaign Spokesman Steven Cheung said.

 

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Per The Hill:

Former President Trump on Wednesday demanded the Maine secretary of state recuse herself from her upcoming decision on the former president’s ballot eligibility under the 14th Amendment, citing her past statements about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Unlike other states, where plaintiffs have sued over Trump’s eligibility in court, Maine’s system first allows the secretary of state to weigh in. Challengers can then appeal in state court.

In response to three petitions challenging Trump’s ballot eligibility, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, is set to issue a decision in the coming days.

On Wednesday, Trump’s lawyers wrote Bellows a letter demanding she disqualify herself over three tweets she previously issued referencing Jan. 6, including those in which she described the attack as an insurrection.

The 14th Amendment prohibits someone from holding “any office … under the United States” if they “engaged in insurrection” after taking an oath to support the Constitution.

“Using similar language, the Challengers have claimed that the events of January 6, 2021, constituted a violent insurrection and that President Trump somehow poses a danger from which Maine voters must be protected. Thus, the Secretary has already passed judgment on the Challengers’ core assertions,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in the letter.

In related news, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswol announced Thursday Donald Trump would remain on the presidential ballot after the Colorado Republican Party filed its appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

On Wednesday, lawyers for the Colorado Republican Party asked the high court to overturn the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling to boot Trump off the ballot under the ‘insurrection clause’ of the U.S. Constitution.

Griswold said Trump will stay on the state’s ballot “unless the U.S. Supreme Court declines to take the case or otherwise affirms the Colorado Supreme Court ruling.”

BREAKING: Colorado Secretary Of State Announces Trump Back On Ballot, Awaits Supreme Court Decision

Read the full order HERE.

 

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