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Scott Detrow: So how did you define “engaging in insurrection” here?
Shenna Bellows: Well, let’s back up first and make sure that everyone understands that Maine law is, to my knowledge, different from every other state.
Under Maine law, when I qualified Mr. Trump for the ballot, any registered voter had the right to challenge that qualification. Five voters did so, including two former Republican state senators. And then I was required under the statute, under the law, to hold a hearing and issue a decision, and do so within a very compressed timeline. So this wasn’t something I initiated, but it’s something that’s required under Maine election law.
Detrow: So the question came to you, but it puts you in the position of weighing a really serious question with big consequences that’s in front of a lot of state courts right now. And that is this question of whether the attempt to overturn the election and what happened on January 6 was insurrection. How did you think about that key question?
Bellows: So I reviewed very carefully the hearing proceedings and the weight of the evidence presented to me at the hearing. And that evidence made clear, first, that those events of January 6, 2021 — and we all witnessed them — they were unprecedented. They were tragic. But they were an attack not only upon the capital and government officials, but also an attack on the rule of law, on the peaceful transfer of power. And the evidence presented at the hearing demonstrated that they occurred at the behest of, and with the knowledge and support of, the outgoing president. And the United States Constitution does not tolerate an assault on the foundations of our government. And under Maine election law, I was required to act in response.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
President Donald Trump’s representatives say they will soon file an appeal so that he can stay on Maine’s 2024 Republican primary ballot.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, made the decision to disqualify Trump, and on Monday spoke with All Things Considered host Scott Detrow about what led to that ruling, what comes next, and the threats she has faced since it was announced.
And the evidence presented at the hearing demonstrated that they occurred at the behest of, and with the knowledge and support of, the outgoing president.
Others have said this, but Maine congressman Jared Golden is somebody who voted to impeach Trump for what he did on January 6, he made it clear he doesn’t want to see him in office again, and he said: "We are a nation of laws.
And I voluntarily suspended the effect of my decision pending that court process, because we are a nation governed by the constitution of rule of law.
Bellows: Under federal law all our military and overseas voters are eligible to receive their ballots 45 days prior to the presidential primary, which in Maine is on March 5.
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