Forty-one House Democrats filed a bill on Thursday to bar former President Donald Trump from running for president in 2024, citing section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
“Donald Trump very clearly engaged in an insurrection on January 6, 2021 with the intention of overturning the lawful and fair results of the 2020 election. You don’t get to lead a government you tried to destroy,” Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) wrote in a press release:
Even Mitch McConnell admits that Trump bears responsibility, saying on the Senate floor that ‘[t]here’s no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.’ The 14th Amendment makes clear that based on his past behavior, Donald Trump is disqualified from ever holding federal office again and, under Section 5, Congress has the power to pass legislation to implement this prohibition.
Among those Democrats seeking to deprive Trump of 2024 eligibility 41 Democrats, including radicals Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-M).
Section 3 of the 14 Amendment states:
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President… who, having previously taken an oath… shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Democrats are likely focusing on the words “insurrection or rebellion,” tied to January 6, to disqualify Trump from seeking office.
Such disqualification demands evidence that Trump committed “insurrection or rebellion.” Thus far, Democrats have failed to produce qualifying evidence, though the Justice Department is reportedly investigating Trump’s January 6 actions as related to a criminal probe in an alleged effort to question the 2020 election result.