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A Maine Republican state lawmaker needs to question the Maine secretary of state who eliminated former President Donald Trump from the first poll.
GOP state Rep. John Andrews stated he needs to pursue impeachment towards Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows after she disqualified Trump from the 2024 Republican main poll on Thursday.
In her ruling, Bellows cited Part 3 of the 14th Modification of the U.S. Structure, which bans from workplace those that “engaged in rebel.”
Andrews stated in an announcement that he filed a request with the Maine Revisor’s Workplace saying he wished “to file a Joint Order, or whichever is the correct parliamentary mechanism underneath Mason’s Guidelines, to question Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.”
HOUSE DEMOCRAT FROM MAINE RIPS STATE’S DECISION TO TAKE TRUMP OFF BALLOT
Maine GOP Rep. John Andrews stated he needs to pursue impeachment towards Secretary of State Shenna Bellows after she eliminated former President Donald Trump from the Republican main poll on Thursday. (Screenshot/FOX and Mates) (Fox Information)
“In Maine, the individuals don’t elect the Secretary of State, Legal professional Normal or Treasurer,” Andrews advised Fox Information Digital. “They’re chosen by elected Democrat Celebration insiders after offers are made within the again room of State Home.”
“Shenna Bellows is aware of that the method that put her there’s extraordinarily partisan,” he continued. “She ought to know higher and be going out of her solution to be as impartial as attainable to serve each citizen in Maine and never simply registered Democrats.”
“That’s why she swore an oath to the Structure and never the Democrat Celebration,” he added. “We’re nonetheless a republic, however strikes like this fracture that basis, which finally is the purpose of all this.”
Andrews stated in his assertion that he needs to question Bellows “on the grounds that she is barring an American citizen and [the] forty fifth President of america, who’s convicted of no crime or impeachment, their proper to seem on a Maine Republican Celebration poll in March.”
Andrews stated the U.S. is “a republic” and that “Maine is made up of residents and never topics within the duchy of Shenna Bellows.” (Gordon Chibroski)
“Donald J. Trump has met all {qualifications} for the March 2024 Republican Presidential Main. He ought to be allowed on the poll. That is uncooked partisanship and has no place within the workplaces of our state’s Constitutional Officers,” he continued.
Andrews’ press launch famous a social media submit he made, saying Bellows’ determination “is hyper-partisanship on full show.”
“A Secretary of State APPOINTED by legislative Democrats bans President Trump from the 2024 poll in order that she will be able to jockey for place within the 2026 Democrat Main for Governor,” Andrews stated. “Banana Republic is not only a retailer on the mall.”
Andrews stated Friday in a “FOX & Mates” interview that Bellows “has unilaterally disenfranchised 300,060 Maine voters with this partisan transfer.”
He additionally applauded U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Maine Democrat, for talking out towards Bellows’ transfer, even together with his dislike of Trump.
Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, is seen throughout a Home Armed Companies Committee listening to within the Rayburn Constructing in Washington, D.C., on March 6, 2019. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Name)
Golden slammed Bellows over the transfer, saying that he “voted to question Donald Trump for his function within the January sixth Rebellion.”
“I don’t imagine he ought to be re-elected as President of america,” Golden stated Thursday night time. “Nevertheless, we’re a nation of legal guidelines, due to this fact till he’s truly discovered responsible of the crime of rebel, he ought to be allowed on the poll.”
The Maine secretary of state defended her transfer whereas responding to Golden’s criticism throughout a CNN interview on Friday.
“I reviewed Part Three of the 14th Modification very fastidiously and decided that Part Three of the 14th Modification doesn’t say ‘conviction,’ it says ‘have interaction,'” Bellows stated.
“And, let’s return and remember the fact that the occasions of January 6, 2021, have been unprecedented and tragic,” Bellows continued. “This was an assault, not solely on the Capitol and the federal government officers, the previous vice chairman, members of Congress, however an assault on the rule of legislation.”
“And the load of proof that I reviewed indicated that it was, in actual fact, an rebel,” she added. “And Mr. Trump engaged in that rebel underneath Part Three of the 14th Modification.”
In a shock determination issued Thursday night, Bellows stated Trump was ineligible for the state’s 2024 main poll, citing a clause within the U.S. Structure that bars individuals who have “engaged in rebel” from operating for elected workplace with out two-thirds congressional approval.
The clause was initially meant to bar former Accomplice troopers and officers from holding positions within the U.S. authorities or army.
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It was additionally referenced by Colorado’s highest courtroom in a 4-3 ruling final week equally barring Trump from that state’s main poll. The choice was challenged by the Colorado GOP, organising a battle earlier than the U.S. Supreme Court docket.
Bellows’ workplace declined to remark.
Fox Information’ Liz Elkind contributed to this report.
Houston Keene is a politics author for Fox Information Digital. Story suggestions might be despatched to [email protected] and on Twitter: @HoustonKeene
Maine GOP state lawmaker strikes to question state secretary over Trump poll removing
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