Trump rails against Colorado ruling removing him from ballot: 'A shame for our country'
Former President Trump took to social media to lash out against a Colorado court ruling to remove him from the state’s ballot over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Trump did not address the ruling at all during his roughly hour-long speech in Iowa on Tuesday night. Instead, he unleashed a torrent of posts on Truth Social late Tuesday into Wednesday morning, calling it a “sad day in America” and quoting pundits who disapproved of the decision.
“WHAT A SHAME FOR OUR COUNTRY!!!” Trump wrote in one post.
In another, he suggested the country was becoming a “banana republic” and claimed every case he is facing “is the work of the DOJ & White House,” — though there is no evidence the White House has been involved in any of his legal matters and the Colorado case was brought by a watchdog group.
The former president also posted several clips from Fox News of pundits disagreeing with the Colorado ruling, including George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley.
“This country is a powder keg, and this court is just throwing matches at it. … For people that say they are trying to protect democracy, this is hands down the most anti-democratic opinion I’ve seen in my lifetime,” Turley told Fox News host Laura Ingraham, which Trump then shared on Truth Social.
In a Tuesday ruling, the Colorado court in a 4-3 ruling affirmed Trump engaged in insurrection by inflaming his supporters with false claims of election fraud and directing them to the Capitol — preventing him from a second White House term under the 14th Amendment’s “insurrection clause.”
Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to try to stop the certification of President Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
The Trump campaign has already indicated it plans to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority and includes three justices nominated by Trump.
The Colorado Supreme Court put its ruling on hold until Jan. 4, so Trump can first seek review from the U.S. Supreme Court. If he does, the former president's name automatically remains on the ballot until the justices resolve the appeal.