Democratic lawmakers launched a campaign to get Congress to ban former President Trump from “holding office ever again,” the same day Trump announced he’s running for president in 2024.
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Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), who House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) appointed to be Trump’s impeachment manager following Jan. 6, wrote a letter to his Democrat colleagues urging them to pass legislation prohibiting Trump from holding office.
BREAKING: Today we are launching our campaign to get Congress to ban Trump from holding office ever again.
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) November 16, 2022
Cicilline argued Trump has “forfeited his right to ever hold federal office again for leading an insurrection against the United States.” The Democrat claims Congress would be justified in forbidding Trump to hold office due to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
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“This language in our Constitution clearly intended to bar insurrectionists from holding high office in the United States,” Cicilline wrote in the letter. “Given the proof – demonstrated through the January 6th Committee Hearings, the 2021 impeachment trial, and other reporting – that Donald Trump engaged in insurrection on Jan. 6 with the intention of overturning the lawful 2020 election results, I have drafted legislation that would prevent Donald Trump from holding public office again under the 14th Amendment.”
Cicilline says “The legislation details testimony and evidence demonstrating how Donald Trump engaged in insurrection against the United States.” pic.twitter.com/vMIuKQLdfZ
— Nicholas Wu (@nicholaswu12) November 16, 2022
The 14th Amendment was added to the nation’s founding document following the Civil War and was designed to keep those who had joined the Confederacy from holding office afterwards.
Despite the letter, Trump still announced his candidacy for president in a speech at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
The former president did not mention the letter in his speech but called on his supporters to help him fight the “corruption” he will face during the campaign.
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“This will not be my campaign,” Trump said in the speech. “This will be our campaign all together. Because the only force strong enough to defeat the massive corruption we are up against is you, the American people. It’s true. The American people, the greatest people on earth. We love them all and we love both sides. We’re going to bring people together. We’re going to unify people.”