“I find it very troubling that the president of the United States could engage in insurrection and unlike everybody else, could then be president again,” says Jena Griswold.
Colorado’s Democrat Secretary of State Jena Griswold blasted the ruling on former President Donald Trump’s eligibility to appear on the state’s ballot as a “get out of jail free card for insurrection.”
Colorado Judge Sarah Wallace on Friday ruled that Trump can remain on the ballot for the general election, denying the effort by activist group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) to have his name removed on 14th Amendment grounds.
“The idea that any official who would engage in insurrection would be barred from taking office except the presidency is incredibly surprising,” Griswold said Saturday on MSNBC. “That basically means that the presidency is a ‘get out of jail free’ card for insurrection.”
“The idea that any official who would engage in insurrection would be barred from taking office except the Presidency is incredibly surprising,” says CO Sec of State @JenaGriswold. “It basically means that the Presidency is a get out of jail free card for insurrection” #Velshi pic.twitter.com/3ZEa5yXogA
— Ali Velshi (@AliVelshi) November 18, 2023
“As someone who cares deeply about the state of our democracy, I find that very troubling,” she continued. “The American people need to know that the president, the person, if anybody, the person most in charge of protecting the Constitution, actually has a duty to do so.”
“So, I’m right there with you, I find it very troubling that the president of the United States could engage in insurrection and unlike everybody else, could then be president again,” Griswold added.
CREW filed a lawsuit in September to bar Trump from appearing on the state’s ballot claiming the Disqualification Clause of the 14th Amendment prevents those from engaging in an “insurrection” from serving in office.
“Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, also known as the Disqualification Clause, bars any person from holding federal or state office who took an ‘oath…to support the Constitution of the United States’ and then has ‘engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof,” the group’s statement read.
Other Democrat efforts to bar Trump from the ballot also failed in Michigan and Minnesota over the past two weeks.
The Supreme Court also rejected a challenge in New Hampshire to remove Trump from the ballot last month.
Trump praised the Colorado ruling during a rally on Saturday as a “gigantic legal victory” and called CREW “a bunch of losers.”
“Today the radical left Democrats and their allies in the fake news media back there, all those people with cameras — are having an absolute meltdown because last night our campaign won a gigantic court victory in Colorado,” Trump said to cheers.
Trump: Today the radical left Democrats and their allies in the fake news media back there with cameras — they are having a meltdown because last night our campaign won a gigantic court victory in Colorado. pic.twitter.com/gnS16DLz2E
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 18, 2023
“We had a very radical left judge, and she saying a lot of things that weren’t nice. And in the end she saw the light and did what was supposed to be done.”
“So we’ve now beaten the radical left Democrats’ election-rigging ballot qualification scam in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire and other states,” he added.
