{"id":5250,"date":"2023-11-01T01:55:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T01:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/politics\/what-to-know-about-day-2-of-the-trump-disqualification-trial-in-colorado\/"},"modified":"2023-11-01T01:55:01","modified_gmt":"2023-11-01T01:55:01","slug":"what-to-know-about-day-2-of-the-trump-disqualification-trial-in-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?p=5250","title":{"rendered":"What to know about Day 2 of the Trump disqualification trial in Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n The\u00a014th Amendment disqualification trial\u00a0against former President Donald Trump continued Tuesday in Colorado, where a group of voters are trying to keep him off the 2024 ballot based on the Constitution\u2019s post-Civil War \u201cinsurrectionist ban.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n An expert on right-wing extremism dissected Trump\u2019s history of fomenting unrest and testified that\u00a0Trump\u2019s speech\u00a0on January 6, 2021, was unmistakably interpreted by his most militant supporters as \u201ca call to violence.\u201d This is a key part of the challengers\u2019 argument that Trump \u201cengaged\u201d in the insurrection and is therefore ineligible for office.\n <\/p>\n

\n The battle over Trump\u2019s spot on the ballot has heated up. While the trial played out in Colorado, Trump filed a lawsuit to shut down a similar case in Michigan. And a major hearing is set for Thursday in Minnesota in\u00a0another anti-Trump candidacy challenge.\n <\/p>\n

\n The 14th Amendment says US officials who take an oath to uphold the Constitution are disqualified from office if they \u201cengaged in insurrection\u201d or aided the country\u2019s enemies. But the Constitution doesn\u2019t say how to enforce the ban, and it has only been applied twice since the 19th\u00a0century, which is why many experts view these challenges as a legal long shot.\n <\/p>\n

\n Here are the latest highlights from the Colorado trial and beyond:\n <\/p>\n

\n Peter Simi, a sociology professor at Chapman University who studies extremism,\u00a0testified about\u00a0Trump\u2019s\u00a0history of embracing\u00a0of far-right brawler groups like the Proud Boys, albeit with enough wiggle room for plausible deniability.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump was often \u201cusing language with a wink and a nod,\u201d Simi said, but members of these extremist groups consistently interpreted his comments as a \u201cclarion call\u201d toward \u201canger, resentment and mobilization.\u201d This ramped up in summer 2020 as Trump claimed he was being cheated in the presidential election, Simi said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Eric Olson, an attorney for the Colorado challengers, played clips from Trump\u2019s January 6 speech, where he urged supporters to march to the Capitol and\u00a0\u201cfight like hell\u201d\u00a0so they could \u201csave\u201d the country (Though, at times, he also said they should do so peacefully.)\n <\/p>\n

\n Right-wing extremists understood those words as \u201ca call to violence,\u201d Simi said, adding, \u201cwithin far-right extremist culture, fighting is meant to be taken literally \u2026 especially within the context as it\u2019s laid out, that these threats are imminent, and that you\u2019re going to lose your country. Then, fighting would be understood as requiring violent action.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The relationship between Trump and far-right extremists is \u201cunprecedented,\u201d Simi said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cFar-right extremists really were galvanized by his candidacy starting in 2015,\u201d Simi said. \u201cAnd a relationship really emerged between Donald Trump and far-right extremists, with far-right extremists really seeing him as speaking their language, and really addressing many of their key grievances.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump lawyer Scott Gessler pushed back against Simi during cross-examination, pointing out that Democrats used some of the same incendiary language as Trump.\n <\/p>\n

\n He played a montage of Democrats saying they would \u201cfight\u201d or \u201cfight like hell.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n He also zeroed in on a\u00a02018 remark\u00a0by President Joe Biden, where he said he wished he could \u201ctake (Trump) behind the gym and beat the hell out of him\u201d like they were in high school.\n <\/p>\n

\n The\u00a0three-minute montage\u00a0featured clips from Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Rep. Jamie Raskin and top Democrats.\n <\/p>\n

\n The anti-Trump challengers said they\u2019ll feature additional expert testimony from one of the preeminent scholars on the history of the 14th Amendment, Gerard Magliocca. He supports Trump\u2019s disqualification and testified at a\u00a0similar proceeding last year\u00a0against GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. That challenge did not result in her removal from the ballot.\n <\/p>\n

\n After the challengers wrap, it\u2019ll be Trump\u2019s turn to put on his case.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump isn\u2019t attending the proceedings and isn\u2019t testifying. But at least one Republican congressman plans to take the stand: Texas Rep. Troy Nehls\u00a0posted<\/a>\u00a0Tuesday on social media that he will participate in the \u201csham trial\u201d because \u201cI was at the doors on January 6, face to face with protestors, and I know firsthand there was NO INSURRECTION.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Hoping to fend off another major 14th Amendment challenge, Trump sued to shut down a related lawsuit in Michigan.\n <\/p>\n

\n A liberal-leaning advocacy group filed a lawsuit there in September, seeking a court order prohibiting Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson from placing Trump\u2019s name on the 2024 presidential ballot in the state.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump filed a separate lawsuit in the Michigan Court of Claims on Monday, asking a judge to find that Benson doesn\u2019t have the power under state law to block Trump from the ballot based on\u00a014th Amendment grounds.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cDespite President Trump\u2019s tremendous popularity, there are people who want to deny Michigan voters the opportunity to express their choice by voting for him,\u201d Trump\u2019s lawyers wrote. \u201cTo accomplish this, they want the Secretary of State to violate her duties and exercise powers she does not have to keep President Trump\u2019s name off of the ballot.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n CNN has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment, as well as Free Speech for People, the group that filed the candidacy challenges in Michigan and Minnesota.\n <\/p>\n

\n CNN\u2019s Devan Cole and Avery Lotz contributed to this report.<\/em>\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n