Tom Cotton warns 14th Amendment effort to remove Trump from ballots sets ‘dangerous precedent’
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) warned Democrats hoping to remove former President Donald Trump from state ballots via the 14th Amendment Wednesday that doing so would set a “dangerous precedent.”
Critics of the former president are attempting to remove him from the ballot in New Hampshire and Colorado, and the legal advocacy group Free Speech for People sent letters to top election officials across nine states last month asking them to keep Trump from the ballot.
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“I’ve spoken to Republicans who are very strongly in favor of Donald Trump, and others who are very strongly in favor of other candidates — they all agree that the Democrats’ step to try to remove the leading candidate of the president’s opposition party from the ballot is an unprecedented assault on basic democratic customs,” Cotton told Fox News.
Cotton said that if Democrats are concerned about Trump, they need to beat him next year legally and fairly, not by removing him from the ballot.
Some critics and opponents of the former president claim he violated the 14th Amendment during the January 6, 2021, riot on Capitol Hill. The amendment bars those who’ve taken an oath to support and uphold the Constitution from holding office again if they have “engaged in insurrection” against the United States or “given aid or comfort” to its enemies. Trump has not been convicted of insurrection or rebellion.
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Trump has been charged with three conspiracy charges and one count of obstructing or attempting to obstruct an official proceeding for his role in the riot. The trial date for the case will not take place until March 4 — the day before Super Tuesday. He has pleaded “not guilty” to all charges.
The former president has referred to the 14th Amendment effort as a “trick” and claimed “there is no legal basis” for the argument. Trump said such a precedent would “use lawfare to deprive voters of choosing their next president.”
