(Washington) The American state of Maine announced Thursday that Donald Trump would not appear on the ballots in the Republican primary for the 2024 presidential election, a week after a similar decision in Colorado, in connection with the assault on Capitol in 2021.
“He is not fit for the office of president” under the 14e amendment to the Constitution, which excludes from any public accountability people who have engaged in acts of “insurrection”, declared in an official document the Democratic Secretary of the State of Maine Shenna Bellows, responsible for the organization of the elections.
PHOTO ROBERT F. BUKATY, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Shenna Bellows
“I do not reach this conclusion lightly,” she confided in this document, estimating that the assault on the Capitol, seat of the American Congress, was committed “on orders, with full knowledge and with the support of the outgoing president.
The decision will be “suspended” in the event of a legal challenge, she said.
Which should be the case, Donald Trump’s spokesperson having immediately announced the businessman’s desire to challenge the decision in court. The latter could be the subject of a final appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Donald Trump quickly condemned a decision taken according to him by “a radical leftist”, “ardent supporter” of Joe Biden, the current president and next Democratic candidate, barring a surprise, in the 2024 election.
“We are witnessing live an attempt to steal an election and the deprivation of the American voter’s right to vote,” Donald Trump further denounced via his campaign team.
The Republican billionaire won one of the major voters (responsible for electing the American president and vice-president) in Maine in 2020, and Shenna Bellows’ decision, if it is actually applied, would therefore have serious consequences in case of close presidential election.
Waiting for the Supreme Court
On January 6, 2021, hundreds of Donald Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol, the sanctuary of American democracy, to try to prevent the certification of the victory of his Democratic opponent Joe Biden.
Donald Trump and his most fervent supporters still dispute, without proof, the results of the 2020 election.
The ex-president was indicted on 1er August at the federal level then on August 14 by the state of Georgia, accused of having tried to reverse the results of the 2020 election.
Several procedures have been launched in various states across the country to block the path of the big favorite in the Republican primaries.
If Michigan and Minnesota rejected them, the Colorado Supreme Court was the first, last week, to declare Donald Trump ineligible because of his actions during the assault on the Capitol.
The decisions of Maine and Colorado at this stage only relate to the Republican primaries held in their two states and scheduled for March 5 among around fifteen states, during “Super Tuesday”.
The Colorado judges said they were “aware of moving into uncharted territory” in their decision ordering the electoral authorities of this western state to remove Donald Trump’s name from the ballots for the Republican primaries in 2024.
Joe Biden reacted to this decision by judging that Donald Trump had “certainly supported an insurrection”. “There is no doubt about it, none,” he said.
But until the Supreme Court has ruled, ballots will still have to include the name of former President Trump in both Colorado and Maine.