it is saturday, january the 6th. i m ali velshi. it s been three years since a mob attacked the united states capitol at the port of donald trump s desperate him to cling to power after losing the 2020 presidential election. that attack lasted only a few hours, but the long shadow of that fire insurrection continues to loom large over american democracy. especially now, as the 2024 race heats up. but both the twice impeached, multiply indicted former president, and the current, duly elected president, understand this. that s why january six is a central component of each other presidential campaigns, albeit in vastly different ways. president biden gave the first major speech of his reelection bid yesterday, and he used to as an opportunity to reflect on how the insurrection exposed trump s complete disregard for america s constitutional and democratic values, and emphasized that the former president remains a danger to democracy. it s the first national elections since jan
14th amendment started to flow, was all of you secretaries of state who run elections across the country were conscious of the fact that any decision you take will be challenged in other courts. in your state supreme courts, and the supreme court of the united states. how did that influence your decision making, understanding this was not a routine decision for you, this is possibly one of the most consequential decisions you and other secretaries of state will ever make in the history of this country? this is the process. this is the rule of law, under the oath that i swore to uphold the constitution. so, on the last patient decision, i voluntarily suspended the fact of my decision, pending appeal to the superior court. and indeed, welcoming u.s. supreme court engaging, because our job as election officials isn t to make that loss. our job is to follow the law. no matter where the law takes us, and to do us the courts
trump had engaged in one. you held a hearing before coming to the decision that you made. i want to understand, for our viewers, the process you used to come to the decision, to remove donald trump from the ballot, at least in, you know, if the supreme court supports that decision. thank you so much. it s important to understand the process, because in this country, what makes us great as we follow that rule of law. and in maine, because of course, under article one of the constitution, the constitution delegates to the states to the authority to administer the elections, and maine, once the secretary of state qualifies a candidate for the ballot, any registered maine voters may, within a week, file a challenge to the qualifications of a candidate. that is predicated on a main law that requires and delegates the authority to the secretary to ensure that any candidate seeking access to the primary
are prohibited by the constitution. the crux of the debate, i want to ask you about, is two parts. one is do you think that donald trump has sufficiently been litigated, that he was involved in an insurrection? and number two, do you believe this was ultimately a political decision, or a legal decision? my decision is a legal decision under the constitution. that i swore to uphold. and i think that is really important. and you know, in my decision, it s 34 pages, people can read on the secretary of state s website, and make it very clear that the decision would have been clearer, should there have been a conviction or, guilty or not guilty verdict in a criminal court of law. but that s not what section three of the 14th amendment says. it s as engaged in an insurrection. and the events of january six were tragic, unprecedented, they were an attack not only on the capital, but also on members of congress, on the former vice president, and
ballot meets the qualifications of the office they seek. once registered maine voters file a challenge, in this case, there were five voters who did so, i am required, under the law, to hold an administrative hearing within five days. then, within a week, of the hearing proceedings, to issue a decision. and that initiates the process, whereby than any of the parties, the challenger, the candidate, can appeal to superior court, and the maine supreme court, and the u.s. supreme court. just one more thing. in that hearing, both parties are entitled, and in fact were, to be represented by counsel. they had attorneys. they could present evidence, witnesses, engage in cross-examination and legal argument. that s our process here in maine. tell me one of the things that nbc talk to you about in the past after this discussion about the section three of the