NEW YORK: An advocacy group lawyer at the opening of a trial on Monday argued that former US president Donald Trump should be disqualified from next year’s presidential election as he provoked a violent mob in Washington on January 6 in 2021, western media reported.
A lawsuit filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is a test case for whether a rarely-used, Civil War-era clause of the U.S. Constitution that stops people who have engaged in rebellion from holding federal office. The case can prevent Trump from becoming president again.
Eric Olson, an attorney representing voters and the advocacy group in an opening statement of the one-week trial before a Colorado District Court judge said Trump encouraged a violent mob to attack the Capitol, to block the peaceful transition of power.
Trump claims widespread voter fraud
Trump claimed a widespread voter fraud in his November 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden and provoked his supporters to rally in Washington.
He then encouraged them to march toward the Capitol where Congress was certifying Biden’s victory.
Trump’s lawyer, Scott Gesler, denied that Trump provoked supporters to violence and said it would set a dangerous example to disqualify him.
He argued that people should be able to run for office and shouldn’t be punished for their speech.
Trump’s opponents are testing whether they have a practical way to keep him out of ballots in individual states.
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The former president faces similar lawsuits in Michigan and Minnesota brought by advocacy groups. The Colorado case is the first to go for the trial.
Trump is the main candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.
The opponents of Trump hope to deny him a path to victory by disqualifying him in hotly-contested states.
Colorado District Court Judge Sarah Wallace has rejected five separate bids by Trump and his allies to dismiss the case, most recently on October 25, when she rejected Trump’s arguments that courts do not have the authority to determine eligibility for office.
Trump faces several legal cases including a New York state civil fraud lawsuit against his family company as he campaigns for the presidency.
