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 reported “Colorado District Court Judge Sarah Wallace has denied five separate bids by Trump and his allies to dismiss the case.”

The Washington Examiner 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.”

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 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 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

“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

“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

Livestream

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

Selected News Coverage

• Colorado Trial Considers Whether the 14th Amendment Disqualifies Trump, The New York Times
• Takeaways from Day 1 of the Trump disqualification trial in Colorado, CNN
• Trial begins over whether Trump should be kept off the 2024 ballot in Colorado, 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.