Raskin says Trump will try to ‘overturn’ the election again if he loses

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) warned Sunday that former President Trump will try to “overturn” the election again if he loses the 2024 race.

Raskin declined to say whether Maine’s decision to kick Trump off the 2024 ballot under the 14th Amendment will make him a “martyr” on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Maine joined with Colorado to become the second state to remove the former president from its ballot last week, claiming that Trump is disqualified under the 14th Amendment.

“It may or may not. The question is, what does the Constitution say? Donald Trump can strike the pose of the martyr in any given context,” Raskin said. “If he’s allowed to stay on the ballot, despite his clear incitement of an insurrection and attempt to overturn the results in the 2020 election, and he loses to Joe Biden … he will feel himself a martyr there, and he will try to overturn the election result again.”

“So I don’t think we can run scared from Donald Trump. We have got to enforce our Constitution. And that certainly was the design of the framers, and that’s what they would have us do,” he said.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) speaks with a reporter following a press event on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 to preview the upcoming vote allowing House committees to continue their impeachment inquiry into President Biden. (Greg Nash)

Raskin argued that Trump has disqualified himself from the ballot under the 14th Amendment for his actions leading up to and on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump has already vowed to appeal both the rulings in Colorado and Maine, meaning final decisions may be left in the hands of the Supreme Court.

Raskin said that Trump’s case will be difficult for the Supreme Court to rule on.

Raskin suggests Clarence Thomas should recuse himself from Trump 14th Amendment decision

“I mean, under constitutional federalism, every state is ultimately going to control its own ballot access and access to candidates for the ballot,” Raskin said. “And that is obviously difficult when we’re talking about electing the president, who is the one official we have got in America who is supposed to represent the entire country, represent everybody.”

“And so I think that the urgency is for the Supreme Court to act. But I think it’s going to be tough for some of them, if they want to keep Trump on the ballot, if they’re falling for the argument that this is undemocratic,” he added.

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