Maine's Democrat Secretary of State Removes Trump From Presidential Ballot

DEVELOPING STORY: Maine’s Democrat Secretary of State has removed President Trump from the 20204 presidential primary ballot.

“No secretary of state has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on section 3 of the 14th amendment. But no presidential candidate has ever engaged in insurrection,” Shenna Bellows told CNN.

In a statement immediately following the decision, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said they would “quickly file a legal objection in state court.”

Colorado is the only other state to rule him off its primary ballot, though the state Supreme Court’s decision has been stayed until Jan. 4, 2024, because the Colorado Republican Party appealed the court’s Dec. 19 order to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday night.

“I conclude that Mr. Trump’s primary petition is invalid,” Bellows wrote in her decision. “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.”

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Bellows went on to say in her decision that “the record establishes that Mr. Trump, over the course of several months and culminating on January 6, 2021, used a false narrative of election fraud to inflame his supporters and direct them to the Capitol to prevent certification of the 2020 election and the peaceful transfer of power. I likewise conclude that Mr. Trump was aware of the likelihood for violence and at least initially supported its use given he both encouraged it with incendiary rhetoric and took no timely action to stop it.”

Bellows concluded that Trump’s “occasional requests that rioters be peaceful and support law enforcement” did not “immunize his actions. A brief call to obey the law does not erase conduct over the course of months, culminating in his speech on the Ellipse. The weight of the evidence makes clear that Mr. Trump was aware of the tinder laid by his multi-month effort to delegitimize a democratic election, and then chose to light a match,” her decision read.

Donald Trump, Jr. condemned the ruling.

“The radical leftist/marxists in charge don’t care about rules, decency, decorum, or anything other than power. They will silence and/or jail their opponents at all costs…. Until we wake up, nothing will stop them,” he said.

Even the state’s Democrat congressman blasted the secretary of state.

“We are a nation of laws,” he wrote on X. “Therefore, until he is actually found guilty of the crime of insurrection, he should be allowed on the ballot.”

And for the record, Trump has not been charged with insurrection.

Should President Trump be removed from the ballot?