Washington: The Colorado Supreme Court in a verdict Tuesday December 19, 2023 disqualified former U.S. President Donald Trump from the ballot in the state's presidential election next year.
The Colorado Supreme Court cited a rarely used provision to disqualify Trump from holding the U.S. President office over his role in the January 6, 2021 Capitol building attack.
“President Trump’s direct and express efforts, over several months, exhorting his supporters to march to the Capitol to prevent what he falsely characterized as an alleged fraud on the people of this country were indisputably overt and voluntary,” the court said in its ruling as reported by Bloomberg. “Moreover, the evidence amply showed that President Trump undertook all these actions to aid and further a common unlawful purpose that he himself conceived and set in motion: prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election and stop the peaceful transfer of power,” the court said.
“President Trump’s direct and express efforts, over several months, exhorting his supporters to march to the Capitol to prevent what he falsely characterized as an alleged fraud on the people of this country were indisputably overt and voluntary,” the court said in its ruling as reported by Bloomberg.
“Moreover, the evidence amply showed that President Trump undertook all these actions to aid and further a common unlawful purpose that he himself conceived and set in motion: prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election and stop the peaceful transfer of power,” the court said.
The Colorado court verdict makes Trump the first presidential candidate in U.S. history to be deemed ineligible for the White House under the provision of the U.S. Constitution that bars officials who have engaged in "insurrection or rebellion" from holding office.
The ruling applies only to the state's March 5 Republican primary, but its conclusion would likely also affect Trump's status for the 2024 General Election, news agency Reuters reported.
Nonpartisan U.S. election forecasters view Colorado as safely Democratic. It means that President Joe Biden or any other Democratic candidate will likely carry the state regardless of Trump's fate.
The Colorado court pronounced its verdict on December 19, but paused its effect to allow time for Trump to appeal in the U.S. Supreme Court. He has the time until January 4, 2024 to file an appeal as per the state court’s ruling.
Trump’s campaign said he would appeal in the higher court and that he will do it very fast.
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