WASHINGTON, December 28 (Reuters) – Maine’s secretary of state on Thursday excluded Donald Trump, targeted by legal proceedings demanding his ineligibility for next November’s presidential election, from the Republican primary in the state because of his role in the events of January 6, 2021.
Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, believed that Donald Trump had incited his supporters to launch an assault on the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021 by spreading baseless accusations denouncing vast electoral fraud.
Maine’s secretary of state has suspended her decision until the state Supreme Court rules on the matter.
A group of former Maine lawmakers said Donald Trump should be excluded from the vote based on a provision of the US Constitution, which bars from public office anyone who took part in an “insurrection or rebellion” after having lent oath for the United States.
The decision, which is subject to appeal, only applies to the Republican primary which is to be held in the state in March.
Colorado’s highest court, seized for the same reasons, ruled earlier this month that Donald Trump could not take part in the primaries in the state due to a provision of the 14th Amendment to the American Constitution.
The former American president expressed his intention to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn this judgment.
Donald Trump was criminally charged at the federal level and in the state of Georgia for his efforts to overturn the results of the November 2020 presidential election, lost to Democrat Joe Biden, but without being charged with insurrection for the incidents of January 6, 2021.
A judgment from the Supreme Court of the United States could resolve the question of the eligibility of Donald Trump, who remains the favorite for the nomination of the Republican Party despite his legal setbacks. (Reporting Andrew Goudsward, with contributions from Dan Whitcomb; French version Camille Raynaud)
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