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MAINE GOP STATE LAWMAKER MOVES TO IMPEACH STATE SECRETARY OVER TRUMP BALLOT
REMOVAL


BELLOWS REMOVED TRUMP FROM THE PRIMARY BALLOT THURSDAY EVENING, CITING THE 14TH
AMENDMENT


By Houston Keene Fox News
Published December 29, 2023 4:56pm EST
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A Maine Republican state lawmaker wants to impeach the Maine secretary of state
who removed former President Donald Trump from the primary ballot.

GOP state Rep. John Andrews said he wants to pursue impeachment against Maine
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows after she disqualified Trump from the 2024
Republican primary ballot on Thursday.

In her ruling, Bellows cited Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S.
Constitution, which bans from office those who "engaged in insurrection."

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Andrews said in a statement that he filed a request with the Maine Revisor's
Office saying he wanted "to file a Joint Order, or whichever is the proper
parliamentary mechanism under Mason's Rules, to impeach Secretary of State
Shenna Bellows."

HOUSE DEMOCRAT FROM MAINE RIPS STATE'S DECISION TO TAKE TRUMP OFF BALLOT

Maine GOP Rep. John Andrews said he wants to pursue impeachment against
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows after she removed former President Donald
Trump from the Republican primary ballot on Thursday. (Screenshot/FOX and
Friends) (Fox News)

"In Maine, the people do not elect the Secretary of State, Attorney General or
Treasurer," Andrews told Fox News Digital. "They are chosen by elected Democrat
Party insiders after deals are made in the back room of State House."

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"Shenna Bellows knows that the process that put her there is extremely
partisan," he continued. "She should know better and be going out of her way to
be as neutral as possible to serve every citizen in Maine and not just
registered Democrats."

"That’s why she swore an oath to the Constitution and not the Democrat Party,"
he added. "We are still a republic, but moves like this fracture that
foundation, which ultimately is the point of all this."

Andrews said in his statement that he wants to impeach Bellows "on the grounds
that she is barring an American citizen and [the] 45th President of the United
States, who is convicted of no crime or impeachment, their right to appear on a
Maine Republican Party ballot in March."

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Andrews said the U.S. is "a republic" and that "Maine is made up of citizens and
not subjects in the duchy of Shenna Bellows." (Gordon Chibroski)

"Donald J. Trump has met all qualifications for the March 2024 Republican
Presidential Primary. He should be allowed on the ballot. This is raw
partisanship and has no place in the offices of our state's Constitutional
Officers," he continued.

Andrews' press release noted a social media post he made, saying Bellows'
decision "is hyper-partisanship on full display."

"A Secretary of State APPOINTED by legislative Democrats bans President Trump
from the 2024 ballot so that she can jockey for position in the 2026 Democrat
Primary for Governor," Andrews said. "Banana Republic isn't just a store at the
mall."

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Andrews said Friday in a "FOX & Friends" interview that Bellows "has
unilaterally disenfranchised 300,060 Maine voters with this partisan move."

He also applauded U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Maine Democrat, for speaking out
against Bellows' move, even with his dislike of Trump.

Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, is seen during a House Armed Services Committee
hearing in the Rayburn Building in Washington, D.C., on March 6, 2019. (Tom
Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Golden slammed Bellows over the move, saying that he "voted to impeach Donald
Trump for his role in the January 6th Insurrection."

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"I do not believe he should be re-elected as President of the United States,"
Golden said Thursday night. "However, we are a nation of laws, therefore until
he is actually found guilty of the crime of insurrection, he should be allowed
on the ballot."

The Maine secretary of state defended her move while responding to Golden's
criticism during a CNN interview on Friday.

"I reviewed Section Three of the 14th Amendment very carefully and determined
that Section Three of the 14th Amendment does not say ‘conviction,' it says
‘engage,'" Bellows said.

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"And, let's go back and keep in mind that the events of January 6, 2021, were
unprecedented and tragic," Bellows continued. "This was an attack, not only on
the Capitol and the government officials, the former vice president, members of
Congress, but an attack on the rule of law."

"And the weight of evidence that I reviewed indicated that it was, in fact, an
insurrection," she added. "And Mr.  Trump engaged in that insurrection under
Section Three of the 14th Amendment."

In a shock decision issued Thursday evening, Bellows said Trump was ineligible
for the state’s 2024 primary ballot, citing a clause in the U.S. Constitution
that bars people who have "engaged in insurrection" from running for elected
office without two-thirds congressional approval.

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The clause was originally meant to bar former Confederate soldiers and officers
from holding positions in the U.S. government or military.

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It was also referenced by Colorado’s highest court in a 4-3 ruling last week
similarly barring Trump from that state’s primary ballot. The decision was
challenged by the Colorado GOP, setting up a battle before the U.S. Supreme
Court.

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Bellows' office declined to comment.

Fox News' Liz Elkind contributed to this report.

Houston Keene is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.  Story tips can be sent
to Houston.Keene@Fox.com and on Twitter: @HoustonKeene 


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