John,
Last week, a New Mexico judge ruled that Otero County Commissioner and Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin violated the 14th Amendment by participating in the January 6 insurrection and ordered him immediately removed from office. This is the first time in 150 years that a court kicked someone out of office for insurrection.
CREW and our co-counsels presented reams of evidence of Griffin’s mobilization, incitement and participation in the insurrection, including numerous photos and videos of his actions and speeches on January 6 and the weeks surrounding it. Prior to the riot, Griffin spent days traveling the country attempting to encourage people to travel to DC for January 6, as part of the Women for America First bus tour.
Griffin on inaugural structure, yelling at crowd with bullhorn | Raw photo by Nate Gowdy
Griffin also repeatedly announced that he anticipated the possibility of violence, and used terms like “war” and “battle” to incite other Trump supporters. Then he arrived in DC to participate in the mob at the Capitol, illegally breaching the grounds, joining a crowd attempting to push through a police line, and riling up the mob at the Capitol using a megaphone.
This was all caught on video: a government official helping disrupt a peaceful transition of power and attempting to stop the constitutionally-mandated certification of a presidential election. Griffin’s actions were a clear violation of his oath to defend the Constitution when he took office, and the judge agreed in his ruling, citing our extensive photo and video evidence in his decision.
Read more, and watch some of the videos that led to a court disqualifying a public official under the 14th Amendment for the first time in more than 150 years.
The judge ruled that the attack on the Capitol was an insurrection—the first time that's been determined as a matter of law. This ruling sets an important precedent regarding others who participated in or incited the insurrection, and we’re looking into using it to help build future cases.
Thank you,
Noah Bookbinder
President, CREW
