Maine removes Trump from 2024 ballot as California declines to act: Live – The Independent

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Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows blocked Trump from the ballot over his role in the January 6 Capitol riots
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Maine’s top elections official has removed Donald Trump from 2024 primary election ballots, marking the second state to disqualify the former president in his bid for the White House for his involvement in the January 6 Capitol riots.
Shenna Bellows, the Maine Secretary of State, said in a filing on Thursday that the former president contributed to riots at the Capitol by using false claims of election fraud and then directing supporters there when Congress was set to certify the 2020 election results.
Hours later, California’s Secretary of State Dr Shirley Weber declined to block Mr Trump from the state’s ballot, including his name on a list of certified 2024 candidates to county election officials.
This comes as Colorado Republicans are asking the US Supreme Court to reverse an historic state Supreme Court ruling that removed him from that state’s 2024 ballots.
That request from the state GOP to the nation’s highest court followed the unprecedented ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court that found the former president is constitutionally ineligible from holding office for his role engaging with the Capitol riot in 2021.
Colorado Republicans are asking the US Supreme Court to reverse a state Supreme Court ruling that removes Donald Trump from the state’s ballots in 2024.
The request from the Colorado State Central Republican Committee to the nation’s highest court on Wednesday follows an historic ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court that finds the former president is constitutionally ineligible from holding office over his role in engaging in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Trump’s legal team has suggested it intends to file its own appeal, while his campaign battles similar lawsuits challenging his eligibility to appear on 2024 ballots across the US – including a decision from Maine on Thursday night that strikes him from next year’s primary ballots.
Colorado’s ruling is paused until 4 January, one day before a state deadline to certify ballot contents. But that date could extend indefinitely if the Supreme Court decides to take up the appeal before issuing a final decision at a later date. Trump will remain on the ballot, for now, pending that appeal.
The former president’s legal team is expected to file its own appeal to the nation’s highest court
Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie released an ad responding to calls for him to drop out of Republican presidential primary, saying he is the only candidate willing to publicly say what many Republicans say about former president Donald Trump privately.
Mr Christie released the ad to be played in New Hampshire just weeks before the first in the nation primary begins. The former governor has campaigned heavily in the Granite State before its 23 January contest.
Mr Christie responded to criticisms that he should get out of the race, since he is preventing the consolidation of non-Trump voters.
“Really? I’m the only one saying Donald Trump is a liar,” he said. “He pits Americans against each other.”
Read the full article and watch the ad here
California’s secretary of state has declined to block Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 presidential primary ballot over his role in the January 6 Capitol riots.
Secretary of State Dr Shirley Weber certified the list of candidates on Thursday night and sent it to county election officials, ahead of the 5 March presidential primary election.
“I, ShirleyN. Weber, Ph.D., Secretary of State of the State of California, do hereby certify that the following list contains the name of each presidential candidate who is entitled to be voted for in the Democratic, Republican, American Independent, Libertarian, Green, and Peace and Freedom parties’ Presidential Primary Elections to be held on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, and that no uncommitted delegations or groups of candidates for delegates have filed or qualified, and that the following list contains the name, office sought, and, if applicable, the ballot designation and party preference of each person for whom nomination papers for state-certified office have been filed in my office and who is entitled to be voted for in one or more of the counties of the state at the Presidential Primary Election to be held on Tuesday, March 5, 2024,” she wrote.
The former president’s name was included on the list, despite Dr Weber facing calls from the state’s Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis to remove him from the ballot.
Trump’s campaign and allies in Congress and in media are furious with a decision from Maine’s top elections official to disqualify him from 2024 ballots, a decision based on challenges to his eligibility under Section 3 of the 14th Amendemnt, which bars candidates who engaged in insurrection from running for office.
Third-ranking House Republican Elise Stefanik called the decision “illegal” and “corrupt”. RNC chair Ronna McDaniel called it “election interference”. Donald Trump Jr broadly swiped at “radical leftist/marxists in charge” who “don’t care about rules, decency, decorum, or anything other than power.”
The decision was also opposed by Republican Senator Susan Collins – who was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict Trump of incitement of insurrection during his second impeachment trial.
“Maine voters should decide who wins the election – not a Secretary of State chosen by the Legislature,” she said. “The Secretary of State’s decision would deny thousands of Mainers the opportunity to vote for the candidate of their choice, and it should be overturned.”
Maine’s top elections official has disqualified Trump from appearing on the state’s 2024 ballots.
It’s the second state to do so, and his campaign is teeing up an appeal.
Trump also is expected to appeal to the US Supreme Court, after a filing from Colorado’s GOP asked the justices to review the case and reverse a Colorado decision barring Trump from next year’s ballot.
The nation’s highest court could soon consider whether the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination for president is ineligible for the presidency for launching an insurrection, an unprecedented question at the heart of more than a dozen lawsuits across the country.
Maine’s secretary of state said the former president’s actions leading up to January 6 were evidence of an insurrection
Donald Trump has shared a graphic naming “revenge” and “dictatorship” as among his biggest goals if he wins the presidency in 2024.
In a poll published on Tuesday, The Daily Mail asked 1,000 American voters to sum up in one word what they thought Mr Trump and Joe Biden wanted from a second term in office.
The top entry in Mr Biden’s word cloud was “nothing”, followed by “economy” and “peace”. But for Mr Trump, it was “revenge” – alongside “power”, “dictatorship”, “America”, and “economy” again.
Mr Trump quickly shared the graphic on his Truth Social page without any further comment, raising the question of whether he endorses such terms.
Io Dodds has the story.
Other words associated by voters with his campaign included ‘power’ and ‘dictatorship’
Apologies if you’ve deliberately been avoiding this story…
The ad is called ‘Limburger,’ a cheese known for its pungent odour
Here’s Adam Kinzinger getting very descriptive about it all:
A UFC fighter who is a proud supporter of Donald Trump says his previous losses are due to his public advocacy of the former president.
The MMA fighter hailed Mr Trump as “the best and biggest fighter we’ve ever had in America” and said allegiance to him had “definitely hurt me in my career”.
Mr Covington failed to win the welterweight title from Leon Edwards at UFC 296 in Las Vegas on 17 December, after losing on points.
Mike Bedigan has the story.
The MMA fighter hailed Trump as ‘the best and biggest fighter we’ve ever had in America’
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was asked Wednesday by a New Hampshire voter about the reason for the Civil War, and she didn’t mention slavery in her response — leading the voter to say he was “astonished” by her omission.
Asked during a town hall in Berlin, New Hampshire, what she believed had caused the war — the first shots of which were fired in her home state of South Carolina — Haley talked about the role of government, replying that it involved “the freedoms of what people could and couldn’t do.”
She then turned the question back to the man who had asked it, who replied that he was not the one running for president and wished instead to know her answer.
After Haley went into a lengthier explanation about the role of government, individual freedom and capitalism, the questioner seemed to admonish Haley, saying, “In the year 2023, it’s astonishing to me that you answer that question without mentioning the word slavery.”
“What do you want me to say about slavery?” Haley asked, before abruptly moving on to the next question.
Read the full article
Donald Trump has attacked Michigan Democrat Representative Debbie Dingell for criticising his Christmas Day rants, claiming he gave her late husband “the absolute highest US honors for his funeral”.
Ms Dingell criticized the former president on CNN on Tuesday over Christmas Day messages he made on the Truth Social platform. Mr Trump had claimed that his political opponents “are looking to destroy our once great USA”, adding “may they rot in hell”.
Ms Dingell called Mr Trump’s message “one of the most pathetic Christmas greetings I’ve heard – when a former President of the United States who wants to return tells people on Christmas Day that they can ‘rot in hell’”.
She added that Mr Trump was adding to the “divisiveness” and “division” across the United States.
The former president then began his response by calling her a “LOSER” on Truth Social.
Read on…
Former president lashes out after Michigan lawmaker called his Truth Social post ‘one of the most pathetic Christmas greetings I’ve heard’
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Former president Donald Trump at a rally in Florida in November
REUTERS
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