Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the lead House impeachment manager, is pointing to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment as a way to bar former President Donald Trump from ever holding office again.
During ABC News’ “Powerhouse Politics” podcast on Wednesday, Raskin said, “Donald Trump’s status as a political actor in America is very dubious because of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment which says that people who engaged in armed insurrection and rebellion against the union after swearing an oath to us shall not be able to hold public office again.”
Raskin mentioned the way the amendment was designed to be used after the Civil War.
“Donald Trump is right in, you know, the bullseye middle of that group and so, he really does fulfill exactly the constitutional prohibition there,” he explained.
Listen to his remarks below:
He was asked if there would have to be a vote by Congress to affirm that Trump would be barred from holding office due.
“Presumably, it could be done both affirmatively and defensively. People, you know if he tried to run for office again, people could try to stop him in the states. It also conceivably could be an affirmative statement by state legislators, by Congress, by other institutions,” Raskin said.
He continued, “So we’d have to figure it out and do some more research about all of that, but the point is that the constitutional purpose is clear, to keep people exactly like Donald Trump and other traitors to the union from holding public office.”
After failing to acquire the necessary 67 votes to convict him, the Senate voted to acquit Trump, as IJR reported.
The former president seems to still believe he won the election. While paying Tribute to late conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh on Fox News on Wednesday, Trump said, “Rush thought we won, and so do I, by the way. I think we won substantially.”
