A group of seminal voters in Colorado have launched a lawsuit against former US President Donald Trump in a bid to disqualify him from the state’s 2024 primary and general ballots. The detailed 100-page complaint accuses Trump of leading an extensive campaign to unlawfully overturn the 2020 election results by pressuring, coercing, and instigating state and local officials.
The complaint places strong emphasis on the events of January 6, 2021, alleging that Trump incited over 10,000 protesters to descend upon Washington D.C., exacerbating the “stop the steal” rhetoric surrounding the 2020 presidential election.
The plaintiffs argue that Trump’s actions have rendered him unfit to hold office in the United States. The complaint cites the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution which prohibits any individual who has served as an officer of the US and subsequently engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the US Constitution, from assuming the presidency. According to the lawsuit, Trump’s actions meet the criteria of “insurrection” as stipulated by the Fourteenth Amendment and it quotes the executive, legislative, and judicial wings’ bipartisan view of January 6th as an insurrection.
The suit further alleges that attendees, egged on by Trump, arrived in the country’s capital and resorted to violence, with specific threats directed toward former Vice President Mike Pence and former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. The end objective of the lawsuit is to bar Trump from the 2024 Colorado ballots.
Colorado’s Secretary of State, Jena Griswold, is also named as a defendant amid allegations that she should, given her role in overseeing ballot access, preclude Trump from featuring on the state’s presidential primary and general election ballots.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) tabled the lawsuit in representation of six Coloradans who either align with Republican political affiliations or are politically unaligned. As per a press release from CREW, although this suit against a former president is unprecedented, it is considered a necessary safeguard in the wake of the unprecedented attack on January 6th.
In recent developments, Trump pleaded not guilty to a slew of election interference charges arising from his attempts to subvert the 2020 election results, subsequent to his August indictment by a grand jury. Concurrently, former Proud Boys members Ethan Nordean, Dominic Pezzola, and Enrique Tarrio were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 to 22 years for their participation in the January 6 events.