The first Secretary of State is working behind-the-scenes to keep former President Donald Trump off the ballot in the 2024 presidential election.
New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan (R) is consulting with the state attorney general to invoke the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment to keep Trump off the ballot.
As secretary of state, Scanlan oversees New Hampshire’s presidential primary in early March.
“I will be asking the attorney general’s office for their input,” Secretary of State David Scanlan told the Globe. “And ultimately whatever is decided is probably going to require some judicial input.”
The legal theory that Scanlan is probing to keep Trump from running is nothing new. It revolves around the “insurrection” language cited in the Fourteenth Amendment.
A challenge was recently filed in federal court in Florida to have Donald Trump removed from the 2024 race under the 14th Amendment. Attorney Lawrence Caplan filed the challenge claiming Trump cannot legally be on the 2024 ballot because he “engaged in an insurrection.”
“The bottom line here is that President Trump both engaged in an insurrection and also gave aid and comfort to other individuals who were engaging in such actions, within the clear meaning of those terms