As officials across the country consider whether to ban former President Donald J. Trump from the ballot for his role in the events of Jan. 6, 2021, a group of House Republicans is trying to bolster his claim that he did nothing wrong.
More than 60 Republicans – led by Matt Gage of Florida and Elise Stefanik of New York – said on Tuesday they had signed a resolution declaring that Mr Trump “did not engage in sedition”.
The measure aims to sway courts and state election officials who are considering whether Mr. Trump is eligible to serve under the 14th Amendment’s sedition ban, an issue that has clouded the primary season and as Mr. Trump closes the Republican Nomination. Senator JD Vance, R-Ohio, is introducing a companion measure in the Senate.
“It’s not the job of the states, and especially some bureaucrats in Colorado, to make that assessment and interfere with voters’ rights to vote for the candidate of their choice,” Mr. Gaetz said in a news release. convention, flanked by fellow Republicans.
Mr. Trump has been barred from the ballot in Colorado and Maine. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the former president’s appeal of the Colorado decision, and arguments will begin Thursday.
At issue is whether Mr. Trump violates Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which bars those sworn to uphold the Constitution from holding office if they have subsequently “engaged in rebellion or insurrection against the same, or given help or comfort to his enemies’.
In 2021, the Democratic-controlled House impeached Mr. Trump for inciting a riot after he called a large crowd in Washington that eventually stormed the Capitol and injured about 150 police officers. He was acquitted by the Senate, but now faces criminal charges.
Mr. Trump has been charged in federal court in Washington and in state court in Georgia with conspiracy to illegally tamper with the 2020 election. Those cases have not yet gone to trial.
The House Republicans’ news conference brought together members of the party’s leadership and the far-right House Freedom Caucus. Representative Bob Goode of Virginia, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus that endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSandis’ failed bid for the Republican nomination, was there to show his support for Mr. Trump.
Criticizing the cases against Mr Trump, Mr Goode condemned the Justice Department as the “Department of Injustice”.
“What more effective way to rig an election than to keep your opponent from being on the ballot?” Mr. Kalo said.
For years, congressional Republicans have made a concerted effort to rewrite the events of January 6, downplaying or denying the violence and diverting efforts to investigate it.
The news conference on Tuesday came as Mr. Trump continued to exert influence on Capitol Hill, pushing congressional Republicans to scrap a bipartisan deal to beef up security on the southern border. But an impeachment vote against Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, failed in the House on Tuesday night.
Democrats and some law enforcement officials condemned Mr. Gaetz’s effort.
Michael Fanone, a former District of Columbia police officer who was seriously injured in the Jan. 6 mob violence, called the resolution “a slap in the face to those of us who lost almost everything defending the Capitol on Jan. 6, including protecting some of the very members of Congress who are now trying to rewrite history to exonerate former President Trump.”
“But no paper signed by a group of spineless extremists will ever change the facts of that dark day,” Mr Fanone said in a statement. “The insurgency was violent, it was deadly, and it will happen again if we don’t stamp out the MAGA ideology that ignited the flames of the insurgency in the first place.”
