Former Nixon White House counsel John Dean said Donald Trump is “in trouble” after he was disqualified from the ballot in Maine.
Maine’s secretary of state Shenna Bellows concluded Thursday that the 14th Amendment of the Constitution prohibits Trump from serving in office again due to his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and disqualified him from the 2024 ballot in the state.
“I think the Maine decision is very solid,” Dean said in a CNN interview. “It was fully briefed. There is ample due process in this proceeding and they just lost by a straight honest reading of the 14th Amendment. Trump’s in trouble.”
The 14th Amendment insurrection clause bars anyone from office who swore an oath to “support” the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against it.
Trump faces similar challenges to remove him from the ballot in Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, New Mexico, New York, and Texas.
California, Michigan and Wisconsin have so far rejected efforts to remove Trump from the ballot, while Maine became the second state to do after Colorado last week.
Trump’s legal team will appeal the Colorado ruling to the Supreme Court. The former president’s attorney will also likely appeal Bellows’ decision to Maine’s Superior Court. The state’s law said the Superior Court must make a decision within 20 days from the date of the decision.
“He’s in trouble wherever this is legitimately raised and addressed,” Dean said. “So, yes the Supreme Court is gonna have to weigh in on it. I want to see those strict constructionists and originalists get around that language.”
“How are they going to do it? I don’t know. It looks so applicable. I don’t know what they can do with it other than take him off the ballot,” he added.
