(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
OAN’s Abril Elfi
9:45 AM – Saturday, November 18, 2023
A Denver, Colorado district judge has decided that former President Donald Trump is eligible to appear in the state’s 2024 election primary ballot.
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District Judge Sarah B. Wallace ruled that the 45th president can appear on the Colorado primary ballot shortly before 5:00 p.m. on Friday.
The ruling came amid allegations brought by the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington that Trump should be disqualified from the ballot due to a section of the United States Constitution that prohibits individuals who have “engaged in insurrection” from holding office.
However, Wallace also wrote that Trump “acted with the specific intent to disrupt the Electoral College certification of President Biden’s electoral victory through unlawful means; specifically, by using unlawful force and violence.” And, she concluded, “that Trump incited an insurrection on January 6, 2021 and therefore ‘engaged’ in insurrection.”
That would normally be enough to disqualify him under Section 3, but she stated that she couldn’t do so for a presidential candidate.
Trump attorney and former Secretary of State Scott Gessler (R-Colo.) said that “At the end of the day Colorado voters are going to be able to choose who they want for President and that’s what matters.”
“I’m surprised at the way the order was structured. Usually what will happen is courts will decide first whether or not the law applies even before we go forward to a trial. In this instance we have a trial and then she ruled that the law didn’t apply,” said Gessler.
Section 3 does not expressly mention the presidency, although it does mention members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives. The sentence instead refers to “electors of the President and Vice President,” as well as civil and military offices.
“Part of the Court’s decision is its reluctance to embrace an interpretation which would disqualify a presidential candidate without a clear, unmistakable indication that such is the intent of Section Three,” the judge wrote.
Gessler said he was relieved to have won in court but that “the judge threw a lot of shade on President Trump, which we’d rather not have, but, at the end of the day, we won.”
The Trump team also stated that they “applaud today’s ruling in Colorado, which is another nail in the coffin of the un-American ballot challenges.”
The decision came after Trump was also facing similar accusations in Minnesota, Michigan and New Hampshire as well, however, all cases were dismissed.
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