PLOT BLOCKED: If Donald Trump runs again, ethics group has plans to shut him down
When (or if) Donald Trump announces his 2024 run for the presidency, ethics watchdogs are waiting in the wings to stop him. There is speculation that he’ll make his announcement once midterm election day is past — but if so, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is ready with a 14th Amendment filing.
CREW has already contacted Trump to warn him that this hurdle is in place if he tries to gain office again. They say he’s clearly barred from office by the part of the 14th Amendment that addresses insurrection.
The 14th Amendment argument has already been made to bar some other Trump-linked officials from office, although the results have been a mixed bag. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) was successful in defeating a similar charge against her, and Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) had similar success but was voted out anyway.
However, a (now former) Texas County Commissioner, Couy Griffin, was successfully removed from office, after a conviction for his role in the attack. CREW believes there is sufficient evidence of Trump’s role to disqualify him from holding office as well.
CREW states:
Nearly four years to the day after swearing an oath to the Constitution, Trump incited an insurrection that culminated in a violent attack on Congress… “Let our message be clear,” [CREW President Noah] Bookbinder said, “if you seek office despite being disqualified under the Constitution for engaging in insurrection, we and others loyal to the Constitution will defend it.”
The January 6th Committee has spent the past months gathering, and presenting to the public, evidence supporting the claim that Trump was the driving force behind the attack on January 6th, as well as that he took other actions he knew to be illegal and/or unethical in attempt to alter the outcome of the 2020 election. After Friday — if Trump complies with a Congressional subpoena and submits documents as ordered — they may have further evidence supporting that position.
In the meantime, the U.S. Justice Department is carrying out its own investigation. However, Republicans running for office have promised that if they take the majority, they intend to take every possible action, from vengeance investigations to firings to defunding, that may prevent the FBI and DOJ from bringing investigations of Trump to fruition.
