Former Sen. Claire McCaskill Says Colorado Ruling 'Really Helps Donald Trump'
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said she believes the legal decision to bar Donald Trump from Colorado ballots is sound, but that from a political standpoint, it may actually help the GOP’s presidential front-runner.
McCaskill joined MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Thursday to discuss the state Supreme Court’s ruling that Trump is ineligible to return to the White House due to his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Under the 14th Amendment, an individual is prohibited from holding office if they engaged in insurrection against the U.S. Constitution after swearing an oath to protect it.
Trump’s campaign said the former president plans to appeal to decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
According to McCaskill, she wears two hats: lawyer and politician.
“As a lawyer, I get this, and I think there is a real strong case for the Supreme Court to agree with Colorado,” she said.
“As somebody who is a politician,” she continued, “I think it’s a real bad decision, because I think it really helps Donald Trump. And I don’t like anything that helps Donald Trump.”
She added, “In a perfect world, if I could write the script, the Supreme Court would put him back on the ballot and then he would be defeated soundly.”
Trump is an expert at turning legal woes into political gains. He has only widened his lead in the Republican presidential primary this year after being criminally indicted four times, while also fighting civil suits alleging fraud, defamation and sexual abuse.
He has pleaded not guilty to the felony charges against him and repeatedly used them to whip up support from his base, casting the prosecutions as a politically motivated weaponization of the justice system and claiming that they amount to election interference.
Trump has already used the Colorado ruling to fundraise. He previously saw funding bumps coinciding with indictments and arraignments.
Watch McCaskill’s analysis below from MSNBC.
