Trump should be disqualified from 2024 ballot over January 6 riot, advocates say at trial

‘Trump incited a violent mob to attack our Capitol,’ said lawyer Eric Olson in an opening statement at the trial in Colorado on Monday

A Civil War-era provision of the US Constitution bars people who have engaged in ‘insurrection or rebellion’ from holding federal office

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Former US president Donald Trump during a rally protesting against the electoral college certification of Joe Biden as president, in Washington on January 6, 2021. Photo: AP

Published: 4:37am, 31 Oct 2023Updated: 4:51am, 31 Oct 2023

Donald Trump should be disqualified from Colorado’s ballot in next year’s election because he “incited a violent mob” in Washington on January 6, 2021, an advocacy group lawyer argued at the opening of a trial on Monday.

A lawsuit brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is a test case for whether a rarely used, Civil War-era provision of the US Constitution that bars people who have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” from holding federal office, can prevent Trump from being president again.

“Trump incited a violent mob to attack our Capitol, to stop the peaceful transition of power,” Eric Olson, a lawyer representing voters and the advocacy group said in an opening statement of the one-week trial before a Colorado District Court judge.

The court watches body camera footage of the January 6 attack at the US Capitol, in Denver, Colorado on Monday. Photo: AP

Then-president Trump spent weeks before the January 6 riot spreading false claims of widespread voter fraud in his November 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden and encouraging his supporters to rally in Washington.

He then encouraged them to march on the US Capitol where Congress was certifying Biden’s win. Only after hours of violence did he appeal to the rioters to go home.

A lawyer for Trump, Scott Gesler, denied that Trump incited supporters to violence and said it would set a dangerous precedent to disqualify him based on “legal theories that have never been embraced by a state or federal court.”

“People should be able to run for office and shouldn’t be punished for their speech,” Gesler told the court during his opening statement.

Colorado is regarded as safely Democratic by non-partisan election forecasters, so regardless of whether Trump is on the ballot, Biden is expected to win the state.

Trump should be disqualified from 2024 ballot over January 6 riot, advocates say at trial

‘Trump incited a violent mob to attack our Capitol,’ said lawyer Eric Olson in an opening statement at the trial in Colorado on Monday A Civil War-era provision of the US Constitution bars people who have engaged in ‘insurrection or rebellion’ from holding federal office

‘Trump incited a violent mob to attack our Capitol,’ said lawyer Eric Olson in an opening statement at the trial in Colorado on Monday

A Civil War-era provision of the US Constitution bars people who have engaged in ‘insurrection or rebellion’ from holding federal office