Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Liz Cheney is adding her voice to the movement to bar Donald Trump from the ballot, saying Friday that there\u2019s \u201cno question\u201d his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, fall under the so-called insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t believe he should be part of our political process,\u201d Cheney said. \u201cAnd this is a process that will go through the courts and that we\u2019ll see sort of how that unfolds. But there\u2019s no question in my mind that his actions clearly constituted an offense that is within the language of the 14th Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former Wyoming representative\u2019s remarks, at a promotional event for her book at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, came moments before the Supreme Court agreed to consider Trump\u2019s appeal of the Colorado top court\u2019s decision to strike his name from the state\u2019s primary ballot.<\/p>\n
Cheney noted the congressional Jan. 6 select committee on which she served referred to the Justice Department evidence that Trump provided \u201caid and comfort<\/a>\u201d to the mob that stormed the Capitol three years ago. That is language in the section of the 14th Amendment that liberal advocacy groups and some voters are leaning on to challenge Trump\u2019s eligibility for the GOP primary ballot in dozens of states.<\/p>\n Republicans, including Trump\u2019s rivals for the GOP nomination, have widely criticized efforts to bar the former president from the ballot as undemocratic. Some have argued that it\u2019s wrong to disqualify Trump without him being convicted of a crime.<\/p>\n But Cheney, one of the GOP\u2019s most outspoken critics of Trump, said a conviction isn\u2019t required under the Constitution.<\/p>\n \u201cI certainly believe he should have been convicted by the Senate. But I don\u2019t believe that that\u2019s necessary,\u201d Cheney said. \u201cHis actions do fit the plain meaning of the Constitution, the plain language.\u201d<\/p>\n On the eve of the third anniversary of the Capitol riot, Cheney said that Trump\u2019s actions that day \u201cthreaten the very foundations of our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n She urged New Hampshire voters to reject him in the state\u2019s first-in-the-nation presidential primary later this month, even as the former president leads polls of likely GOP primary voters by double digits on average<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a little over two weeks, when you in New Hampshire go to the polls, the world will be watching. And so, New Hampshire, I ask you this: speak for us all,\u201d Cheney said. \u201cShow the world that we will defeat the plague of cowardice sweeping through the Republican Party.\u201d<\/p>\n Cheney continues to flirt with the possibility of her own third-party presidential bid, vowing to do \u201cwhatever it takes\u201d to keep Trump from returning to the White House.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to do whatever is the most effective thing to ensure that Donald Trump is not elected,\u201d Cheney said to applause on Friday. \u201cI\u2019ll make a decision about what that is in the coming months.\u201d<\/p>\n