USA
Former president defends himself: Donald Trump is taking action against the exclusion of the primary election in Maine
Supporters of Donald Trump violently stormed the parliament building in Washington on January 6, 2021. photo
© Mary Altaffer/POOL AP/dpa
Can Donald Trump run for president again after what happened at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021? Two states have answered no to the question – at least for now.
The former US President Donald Trump is legally defending himself against attempts to exclude him from the primary election for the Republican presidential nomination in individual states.
Trump’s lawyers filed an objection in a court in the state of Maine against the decision of the top election supervisor there, according to which the Republican had disqualified himself for the office of president with his behavior in connection with the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 and therefore could not be admitted to the area code.
Trump is also expected to appeal a similar decision by the Supreme Court in the state of Colorado. In the end, the US Supreme Court will probably have to clarify the delicate question.
Storm on the Capitol reverberates
The background is the unprecedented attack on the US parliament building almost exactly three years ago: Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021. Congress met there to formally confirm Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump had previously incited his supporters during a speech by claiming that the election victory had been stolen from him through massive fraud. As a result of the riots, five people died. Trump faces charges of attempted election fraud for his actions surrounding the vote.
Based on these events, various plaintiffs in various US states have been trying for some time to have Trump’s name removed from ballot papers for the presidential primaries. Anyone who wants to run as a presidential candidate for the Republicans or Democrats in the USA must first prevail in the party’s internal primaries. In states like Michigan and Minnesota, plaintiffs failed in their attempts to remove Trump from the primary race. Decisions are still pending in other states. However, decisions against Trump were made in Maine and Colorado.
In Colorado, the state’s highest court ruled a few days ago that the Republican was unsuitable for the office of president because of his role in the storming of the Capitol and therefore could not take part in the primary election. Shortly afterwards, in Maine, not a court, but the Secretary of State responsible for elections, Shenna Bellows, came to the same conclusion.
Trump’s lawyers have now lodged a formal objection to their decision. They argued, among other things, that Bellows was biased and had no legal authority to make such a decision. The decision is based on errors and is arbitrary.
Donald Trump is appealing – but doesn’t have much time
Bellows had suspended her decision pending Trump’s objection. The same goes for Colorado. The two decisions initially have no consequences as long as the appeal procedure is ongoing and there is no final clarification yet.
In Colorado, the American Center for Law and Justice had already filed an appeal against the court decision there on behalf of the state’s Republican Party. Further objections in Colorado are expected from Trump himself. This means that the Supreme Court will ultimately have a say in the matter.
But time is running out. The Republican primary begins on January 15th with the first vote in the state of Iowa. The Republican primaries in Colorado and Maine are scheduled for March 5, the so-called Super Tuesday, when voting will take place in a number of US states. However, the ballot papers are printed some time in advance.
Trump wants to run for the Republicans again in the presidential election in November, and in polls he is so far ahead of the field of Republican candidates by a large margin. For the Democrats, Biden wants to run for a second term. He has no serious internal competition.
In addition to the legal dispute over his participation in the primaries, Trump also faces several major court proceedings in the coming months on various criminal charges – including the storming of the Capitol and his attempts to retroactively overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.