A top Republican official in Missouri has threatened to remove President Joe Biden’s name from the ballot in revenge for the judgment in two other states that Donald Trump does not qualify because he “engaged in insurrection.”
On Friday, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said on the social media site X, “What has happened in Colorado and Maine is disgraceful and undermines our republic.” “While I expect the Supreme Court to overturn this, if not, Secretaries of State will step in & ensure the new legal standard for @realDonaldTrump applies equally to @JoeBiden!”
The Supreme Court agreed to examine a ruling by Colorado’s high court that concluded Trump might be excluded from the state’s primary ballot due to his conduct leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the United States Capitol.
Colorado’s Supreme Court based its decision on the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prohibits people who “engaged in insurrection” from running for various federal posts.
In an interview, Ashcroft stated that he tweeted his warning to “remind people of how severe this is.”
“I’m 99% certain the Supreme Court will stop it, but if they don’t, chaos is ahead and we’ve got to avoid it,” he was quoted as saying by NBC News.
Ashcroft plans to file an amicus brief — in support of neither party — alerting the Supreme Court of what he anticipates will occur if Colorado’s disqualification is upheld.
“If Democratic states say we’re not going to let these Republicans run, you can bet Republican states will say the same thing.” “And it’s not good,” Ashcroft explained. “If you’re playing a basketball game and the other team doesn’t have to dribble the ball, eventually you’re going to say, ‘Why am I worried about dribbling the ball?'”
When asked how he would exclude Biden from the vote for rebellion, Ashcroft answered he would “allow an invasion from the border to enter our country unabated.” He went on to say that Vice President Kamala Harris “supported people who were rebelling against the U.S. government during the riots in 2020,” referring to racial justice rallies in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder.
“Does this suddenly mean she can’t run if this is the standard?” “There is no standard, so none of us can say,” he explained.
The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment right away.
According to Michon Lindstrom, a spokesperson for Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams, “Our Office is pleased that the U.S. Supreme Court has taken up Donald Trump’s appeal from the Colorado Supreme Court and will ensure clarity and consistency for all Secretaries of State on this question.”
Texas Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said last month that his state would consider removing Biden “for allowing 8 million people to cross the border since he’s been president, disrupting our state far more than anything anyone else has done in recent history.”
Trump stays on the ballot in Colorado and Maine, both of which hold primaries on Super Tuesday (March 5), while the issues are resolved in court.
The Maine case differs slightly from the Colorado case. There, the Democratic secretary of state determined that Trump was ineligible to vote.
Ashcroft stated that he does not believe secretaries should be engaged in determining who is on the ballot.
“I don’t want to go there,” he stated flatly. “I’m scared for what it means for our election.”