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[link removed] [[link removed]] John,

Today, our 14th Amendment hearing kicked off in Colorado. We're making the case in court this week that Donald Trump is constitutionally ineligible for the ballot on behalf of six Republican and unaffiliated Colorado voters.

The trial began with the judge rejecting the Trump team’s motion for her recusal, just as she denied several other motions to dismiss and stay the case over the last few weeks. As Reuters [[link removed]] reported “Colorado District Court Judge Sarah Wallace has denied five separate bids by Trump and his allies to dismiss the case.”

The Washington Examiner [[link removed]] noted that in the final denial of Trump’s motions to dismiss and stay the case on Friday, the Court cast doubt on the Trump team’s argument that ballot eligibility should be up to Congress, quoting the judge’s ruling that “it would be strange for Congress to be the only entity that is empowered to determine the disability and then also the entity that is empowered to remove it.”

[link removed] [[link removed]]Our co-counsel, former Colorado Solicitor General Eric Olson, made an opening statement explaining that the mob came perilously close to succeeding in it’s aims on January 6th—coming within 40 feet [[link removed]] of Mike Pence—and that Trump was the one who summoned and organized that mob, incited the mob, called for violence and failed to use his immense power to call them off for over three hours.

We then laid out what we plan [[link removed]] to prove over the course of the trial:

1.
Trump
took
an
oath
as
an
officer
of
the
United
States
2.
January
6th
was
an
insurrection
against
the
Constitution
3.
Trump
engaged
in
that
insurrection
4.
The
Secretary
of
State
can
enforce
constitutional
disqualification
and
has
done
so
in
the
past

Trump’s attorneys then responded with their opening statement arguing that Trump was actually calling for peace and highlighting the unprecedented nature of this trial. The Colorado Republican Party also submitted that it has a right to select its own candidates, and then the Colorado Secretary of State’s office said that they welcome guidance from the court and will abide by any decision.

We then called our first three witnesses, and presented evidentiary photos and video from the January 6th insurrection.

Witnesses

*
DC
Metropolitan
Police
Officer
Daniel
(Danny)
Hodges
*
Representative
Eric
Swalwell
*
Former
US
Capitol
Police
Officer
Winston
Pingeon

Key Moments

“Attorney Eric Olson recounted Trump’s violent rhetoric preceding the Jan. 6 attack and his encouraging a crowd that came within ‘40 feet’ of the vice president when it stormed the Capitol. He said Trump ‘summoned and organized the mob.’ ‘We are here because Trump claims, after all that, that he has the right to be president again,’ Olson said. ‘But our Constitution, the shared charter of our nation, says he cannot do so.’” — Associated Press [[link removed]]

“Throughout his testimony, Hodges detailed being punched, kicked, beaten and sprayed with chemical irritants by rioters and reacted to body camera footage from throughout the day. One individual attempted to gouge his eye out with Hodges' own riot baton. ‘I was afraid for my life and for that of my colleagues,’ Hodges said, later adding that his platoon was ‘completely outnumbered’ by rioters.” — The Messenger [[link removed]]

“Swalwell choked up at times as he recounted his experiences on the House floor during the attack. He described being alerted to the gas masks stored under lawmakers’ desks, listening to a chaplain’s prayer and texting his wife as he began to fear for his safety before he and his colleagues were evacuated from the chamber. ‘We could hear the pounding on those doors and the shouting of the rioters outside,’ Swalwell said. ‘It was haunting.’” — Colorado Newsline [[link removed]]

Livestream

C-SPAN aired today’s portion of the trial in full, which you can watch here [[link removed]] .

Selected News Coverage

*
Colorado
Trial
Considers
Whether
the
14th
Amendment
Disqualifies
Trump
[[link removed]]
,
The
New
York
Times
*
Takeaways
from
Day
1
of
the
Trump
disqualification
trial
in
Colorado
[[link removed]]
,
CNN
*
Trial
begins
over
whether
Trump
should
be
kept
off
the
2024
ballot
in
Colorado
[[link removed]]
,
NBC
News

Thanks for following along during our 14th Amendment trial challenging Donald Trump’s ballot eligibility in Colorado. We’ll be back tomorrow with more updates.

If you’d like to support our work, please consider making a donation today! [[link removed]]If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:

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