This story will be updated.
AUGUSTA, Maine — Attorneys for former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign appeared Friday before Maine’s top elections official to push back against three challenges seeking to remove him from the state’s primary ballot.
Trump campaign attorney Scott Gessler told Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat who presided over Friday’s hearing at the State House, that no election official nor court in the U.S. has decided to bar Trump from the ballot.
“And there’s a good reason for all of that,” Gessler, a former Colorado secretary of state, said, noting “substantial federal jurisdictional issues that prohibit states from engaging in this type of behavior.”
The challenges came from Portland attorney Paul Gordon, Winterport resident Mary Anne Royal and attorneys Benjamin Gaines and Jamie Kilbreth, who are representing a bipartisan trio: ex-state Sens. Kim Rosen, R-Bucksport, and Tom Saviello, a former Republican-turned-independent, along with former Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling, a Democrat.
The parties were taking a lunch break before returning for additional arguments Friday afternoon. Bellows will rule on the validity of challenges to Trump’s eligibility by Dec. 22, with written briefs and closing arguments due to her by 5 p.m. Tuesday. The involved parties could appeal any decision up to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
Trump’s campaign was represented by Gessler, attorney Benjamin Hartwell, a former Gorham town councilor who garnered attention last year when his name was found on a leaked membership list of the far-right Oath Keepers, and Virginia-based attorney Gary Lawkowski, who was a Trump administration adviser.
Royal and the three former Maine elected officials believe Trump, the GOP’s clear 2024 frontrunner, incited the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and should be barred from Maine’s Republican presidential primary under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits those who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office.
Gordon made a more unusual argument by saying Trump, who served one term after winning the 2016 election, has repeatedly claimed he also won the 2020 election despite losing to President Joe Biden and thus should be disqualified under the 22nd Amendment’s ban on serving more than two terms.
In response to Bellows asking him about where her authority comes from and whether it is appropriate for her to rule on constitutional questions, Gaines argued Maine’s election statutes allow Bellows to disqualify candidates who falsely declare they meet qualifications of the presidency.
Gessler said no “explicit authority” exists, also getting into more technical arguments by saying the presidency is not an “officer of the United States” as mentioned in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment and that “we probably shouldn’t be here.”
A more animated part of Friday’s fairly mundane hearing was a dispute over admitting numerous exhibits and evidence into the record, with Trump’s legal team objecting to what Gessler called “ambush litigation.”
Among the several intervenors in the case were progressive watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and Rep. Mike Soboleski, R-Phillips, a 2nd Congressional District candidate, who said “denying anyone…their constitutional right to run for public office is un-American.”
Dozens of challenges nationally have similarly argued the 14th Amendment should bar Trump from running again. None have succeeded to date, with Michigan’s appellate court on Thursday becoming the latest to reject challenges.
One closely watched case is before the Colorado Supreme Court, which has seven justices who were all appointed by Democrats. The Colorado justices expressed skepticism last week about the bid to disqualify Trump, and legal experts have noted judges are usually reluctant to wade into electoral politics. The conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court may ultimately have the final word.
Trump, the first former president indicted in U.S. history, faces four pending criminal cases alleging he sought to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Biden in the run-up to the Jan. 6 riots, mishandled classified documents, tried to reverse his 2020 election loss in Georgia and made hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Amid the challenges to Trump’s candidacy, the Supreme Court said Monday it will consider special counsel Jack Smith’s request for it to determine whether Trump has immunity from election interference charges on an expedited basis. The court also said Wednesday it will review an obstruction of an official proceeding charge that federal prosecutors have brought against more than 300 defendants and Trump in Capitol riot cases.
Maine sends its first set of primary ballots to military and overseas voters on Jan. 20, 2024.
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