The Trump campaign accused the Maine secretary of state of interfering in the presidential election ‘on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden.’
Maine has become the second state to bar former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 primary ballot.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, whose office oversees elections in the state, announced the decision on Thursday, citing an interpretation of the 14th Amendment, which contends that an individual who has supported or engaged in insurrection is ineligible to serve in the highest office.
“I conclude that Mr. Trump’s primary petition is invalid,” Ms. Belows wrote in her ruling. “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.”
Ms. Bellows held a public hearing on Dec. 15 after three challenges to President Trump’s eligibility were submitted to her office. President Trump’s lawyers had sought to have her recused from the decision-making process, citing her public statements in favor of impeaching President Trump and describing the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach as an “insurrection.”
Her decision to remove President Trump from the state’s ballot comes after the Colorado Supreme Court’s Dec. 19 ruling, which the Colorado GOP has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Trump campaign issued a statement denouncing the Maine secretary of state’s “atrocious decision” and vowing to move quickly to fight it in state court to prevent it from taking effect.
“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,” said Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung.
“We are witnessing, in real-time, the attempted theft of an election and the disenfranchisement of the American voter. Democrats in blue states are recklessly and un-Constitutionally suspending the civil rights of the American voters by attempting to summarily remove President Trump’s name from the ballot.
“Make no mistake, these partisan election interference efforts are a hostile assault on American democracy. Biden and the Democrats simply do not trust the American voter in a free and fair election and are now relying on the force of government institutions to protect their grip on power,” he added.
