Decision did not come down to a panel of state justices. Instead just Secretary Of StateShenna Bellows upheld two of the three challenges brought by maine voters. One of whom ill speak to in just a moment. What bellows says her reasoning was based on and what it all means for donald trump heading into Super Tuesday. Were also watching colorado where time is ticking on the decision to remove trump from the ballot there that the former president has yet to file his appeal with the Supreme Court. Still voters are urging justices to speed up their review of an appeal from colorados Republican Party. How and when they could act. Plus which other states could throw a wrench into trumps 2024 calendar. Weve got a whole lot to cover. Lets dive in. Joining Me Msnbc News Justice reporter ryan riley. Bring us up to speed on what happened in maine and how donald trump is now reacting. Yes. As you expect the Trump Campaign plans to file an appeal quickly and get this through the court system very quickly and something that goes before the Supreme Court just as we saw in the colorado situation, although those are, obviously, much different cases. This could end up being looped or joined together before the Supreme Court to deal with a number of these challenges. You have other states like california that chose to go a different way and allow donald trump to be on the ballot despite some of the political leanings of the stateik california and the figures who would make that decision there. It speaks to going into 2024, how many challenges donald trump is facing here, right. 91 criminal charges. Right now theres a trial on the books for m a trials scheduled down the road after that, four separate cri st a really tight legal calendar i think for donal trump going in to the new yea and expect to see these developments continue to cascade down as we roll closer to Super Tuesday here. Seems so difficult to juggle all of that. Thank you. And joining us now is one of those challengers who filed to disqualify donald trump from the maine ballot. Ethan is a former mayor of portland, maine. Ethan, thank you for joining us. As we mentioned youre one of the three former maine lawmakers who brought this up saying donald trump should be disqualified from the states ballot. Youre actually the only democrat. The other two former republican state senators. Walk us through. Why did you feel the need to challenge trumps eligibility . Well, let me just start saying yesterday was a really good day for democracy and upholding our constitution, and i think that was the impetus. Ive been writing a little bit about this, and, you know, honestly who knew anything about the section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the constitution before donald trump tried to commit an insurrection, tried to block the peaceful transfer of power in order to keep himself in power. Once that occurred, i think theres a lot of us in the country who felt like no man who tries to commit insurrection against our country should be allowed to run again or hold office certainly should not be allowed to hold the white house, and from there, i spoke to a Couple Attorneys and once colorado ruled the way it did, the first judge that ruled clearly that donald trump was an insurrectionist, i think that said to all of us, okay, we now have a third party who [ inaudible ] evidence, listened to both sides. Donald trump had his day in court. Those who disagreed had their day in court and the judge made a Finding Of Fact that he was indeed an insurrectionist and from there the colorado Supreme Court affirmed that Finding Of Fact and eend it to say that r 14th Amendment does, indeed, apply to him. Once those rulings came into effect, it gave all of us an opportunity to say we need to have this question asked, and maine was ripe for that question and very pleased with how the ruling came down. It has not worked out for other states. What was your reaction when you heard Secretary Of State bellows decision last night . Were you surprised . Did you expect this . I think when we went into this hearing, it was an open question, and by the before she ruled it was still an open question. I felt optimistic because, look, to all who are at all [ inaudible ] neutral in this observing from the outside, clearly donald trump is an insurrectionist, the constitution bans you from running for office, holding office, if you are an insurrectionist. On those fund mental easiest points it seems like a slam dunk. When you get into the processes, Secretary Bellows did a very good job in the hearing. She asked both sides very tough questions and clearly understood the law. She had received them very carefully before she even came into that hearing, and so i think from there we were saying how is she going to rule in this. She clearly has the jurisdiction to rule. Maine law awards that to our Secretary Of State. I was optimistic, but, you know, in all those all those times ive been optimistic before, sometimes it doesnt quite work out. Again, it was a good day for democracy. Thats mostly what i felt. Trumps team calling this atrocious decision and said an objection will be filed quickly. How do you expect this to actually play out when the Supreme Court weighs in, if it, in fact, does, which many people are expecting . Yeah. And i hope it does. I think we need the Supreme Court to step in and give us some clarity around for the entire country. I hope theyre able to put their own partisanship aside. I certainly hope that Justice Clarence thomas recuses himself. Obviously, he has some very serious conflicts with his family and his wifes involvement in on january 6th. But i hope that they can put aside their partisanship, the fact that three of them were appointed by trump. It just its clear i think to anybody that if you look at the constitution, somebody who was president of the United States who tries to block the peaceful transfer of power through a violent insurrection, should not be allowed to hold that office again and not not only should they not be allowed to but the constitution requires they are not allowed to. Its a disqualification. I cant predict the Supreme Court. It will be an Uphill Battle but if they look at our constitution, theyll understand there is really only one way to go and hopefully theyll do the right thing. Super tuesday coming up in march. Do you have any concern this could fuel just more uncertainty in an already raw political process . No. Not more uncertainty. I think, you know, that both colorado and maine, they have stayed their decisions while these while courts are wrestling with this. If courts take too much time thats a problem. Because it will be a problem for Republican Voters. It wont be fair to Republican Voters to, you know, keep trump on the ballot and let them vote for him and disqualify him after that. That means they will have all wasted their vote. Half of Republican Voters, which is why two colleagues who joined me i think came into this, dont believe donald trump should be on the ballot, but want to make sure Republican Voters arent wasting their vote. Lets get this decision decided. There are other candidates in maine who are on the republican ballot that republicans will have an opportunity to vote for. If trump is not there because of this disqualification, then people will have a chance to decide between those who are remaining that actually have a chance to serve in this office. So much yet to be seen. Ethan, thanks so much for your time today. Thanks. Joining us now anthony coley, former doj director of public affairs. Anthony is an msnbc justice and Legal Affairs analyst. Also with me is nbc news legal analyst angela sindella. Thank you for joining us. Your reaction to what ethan had to say about the overall strength of the argument in maine . Yeah. I think he was absolutely right that this was a good day for democracy and i do want to point out what you started with, this was a bipartisan effort in maine. He is a democrat, but he was joined by two republicans, two former state senators. The other thing thats important to note here is that they talked about the actual insurrection. While we all saw with our eyes on january 6th, right, we remember vividly, donald trump on the ellipse of the capitol over an hour using the word fight or fighting multiple times and telling his supporters to go down to the capitol and fight like hell. Steven, thats exactly what they do. They take their guns, they take their bear spray, their zip ties and go down to the capitol and fight like hell. They assault Law Enforcement, they assault members of the news media, looking to kill or assault the Vice President of the United States and the speaker of the house. If thats not an insurrection, i dont know what is. The last thing i will say, too, is that we often think about january 6th as the culmination of the big lie, and yes, it is that, but its also a big conspiracy that took place across many months and multiple states like georgia and michigan, and so i was pleased to see the Secretary Of State acknowledge that history of how we got to january 6th and making that determination. And angela, to that point, Secretary Bellows, she said in this decision that trump was aware that he laid the tinder out to delegitimize the election and chose to light the match anyway. Is this ultimately enough, donald trump, he has not been convicted or indicted for insurrection or the specific role in january 6th being an insurrection. Does the Supreme Court have to step in and do the fact finding for this . It seems difficult to do. Yes. The Supreme Court, i do believe, will step in, and i think they will not think this is enough. When you look at big picture one woman was able to make this extraordinary, somewhat shocking, decision, i think ultimately that was just her job. She was doing her job. Within the laws of maine, she literally did what she was supposed to do, make a decision about whether or not donald trump is qualified to run for president. When you look at big picture, what the Supreme Court will look at, not just what is relevant from a State Law Perspective but federal law perspective. Who should be the people to determine whether or not he engaged in insurrection. Should it be a Secretary Of State or a trial court . Should it be congress . I have a suspicion theyre going to punt it back to congress, steven. All right. Certainly yet to be seen as well. Anthony, we cant ignore, there has been bipartisan backlash to this decision as well and concerns this will only bolster trump more. This is from our own reporting today, politically strategists in both parties expect the legal case against trump to ultimately collapse and say effo disqualify him will m likely serve only to energize his supporters a fuel claims that he is being targeted by a vast conspiracy of powerful elite. What do you make of that argument . Yeah. I dont buy that argument. I think donald trump is a clear threat to american democracy as we know it, and its appropriate for all of those who Support American Democracy to pursue every viable option available to keep donald trump from the presidency. Now, i acknowledge what was said, its going to be an Uphill Battle in the Supreme Court. I suspect that this is going to be ultimately come down to the choice of the people and the people have to do in november 22 what the people did november 24 what the people did three years ago, beat donald trump again at the ballot box. Thats how we begin to break the fever that is trumpism in our country. Angela, i cant get over the timeline here. Some ballots are going to be printed in a couple days now. I want to talk about colorado in that as well. What do you make of the voters there . Theyre urging the Supreme Court to speed up this review of the Republican Party in colorado there, their appeal . They want that decision faster than those who even actually filed the appeal. How unusual is that . Well, i have to say i do think its relevant in both maine and colorado, these decisions have been stayed, meaning that donald trump will remain on the ballot until an Appeals Court or the u. S. Supreme court really steps in here, so i think that this is an indication of what the people believe will likely happen, which is they believe he will remain on the ballot. They believe the Supreme Court will stay. I think this is honestly shocking to all lawyers around the country that we have made so much progress in this movement, but i dont think it will last. Steven . The Supreme Court often goes by its own timeline but im certain theyre hearing all these calls for it to be expedited. Angela and anthony, thank you both so much. Coming up next, some brand new nbc news Investigative Reporting finds out how that infamous chinese spy balloon was able to communicate as it flew across the u. S. And what the white house has to say about these surprising revelations. Were back in 60 seconds. Were back in 60 seconds that first time you take a step back. I made that. With your very own online store. I sold that. And you can manage it all in one place. I built this. And it was easy, with a partner that puts you first. Godaddy. Welcome back. Remember that chinese spy balloon that drifted over alaska and across the continental United States before being shot down off the South Carolina coast earlier this year . We are learning more about it right now about how it worked. The exclusive nbc news reporting coming in shows the u. S. Intelligence officials have determined that balloon used an American Internet Service Provider to send and receive communications back to china. Thats according to two current and one former u. S. Official familiar with the intelligence assessment. Joining me is nbc news Aaron Gilchrist who is traveling with President Biden in the u. S. Virgin islands. Some surprising stuff here. Walk us through this exclusive nbc reporting. Reporter so steven, as we understand it, this assessment that was done by the u. S. Intelligence Community Says that this balloon connected to a u. S. Based Internet Service provider as it was moving across the continental United States and the purpose was to be able to send and receive information from china, Communications Information primarily navigational information as we understand it, from the assessment, in these short transmission bursts as it was moving from west to east here across the United States. The administration according to this reporting and sources tried to get a court order from the highly secret fisa court, the foreign Intelligence Surveillance court, and the point was to be able to collect he electronic information from the balloon, intelligence information, while it was over the United States. We dont know at this point whether the administration was actually able to get that court order. The company that was the Internet Service provider were not naming to protect some of our sources here, denied that balloon was able to connect to its network, and that was based on its own investigation. As you might imagine, the u. S. Government, Different Department in the government, are not commenting on this story at this point. We know in the past that the pentagon, for example, said that it protected sensitive sites. It was able to protect sensitive government sites as the balloon was moving across the United States, covering up vehicles or planes or other sorts of things that were on the ground as the balloon was moving across the u. S. The Biden Administration insisted at one point that it was able to collect more information about the balloon and from the balloon than the balloon itself was able to collect about things on the ground moving across the u. S. We understand the balloon was not able to transmit any sensitive information, intelligence back to china, while it was here in the u. S. Before it was shot down. We know steven, on the east coast. And aaron, what do these revelations mean for u. S. China relations . Well, you remember at the time that this was something that seemed to be furth