Maine’s Secretary of State Shenna Bellows ruled on Thursday that former President Donald Trump was “not qualified” to appear on the state’s ballot in 2024, and many Republicans have criticized her decision. But one former Republican lawmaker in her state not only defended her, but explained that he argued in favor of Trump’s removal from the ballot.
Former Maine state senator Tom Saviello, a Republican, appeared on CNN on Friday and told anchor Erica Hill that even though he voted for Trump, his role in the January 6 insurrection disqualified him from running for office. And Bellows’ decision did not come lightly:
The secretary of state has to determine whether the individual meets the qualifications or not before they can be on the ballot. And in this particular case, thank you, Shenna, thank you, Secretary of State, you made the decision that Donald Trump does not meet those qualifications, because according to the 14th Amendment, Section 3, he was involved in inciting an insurrection against this country and egged those people on to do what they wanted to do to the Capitol. And therefore, she’s made the decision that he is not qualified to be on our ballot.That’s the difference. And she made that in a very thoughtful manner. She ran a wonderful hearing. Whether we won or lost, she really listened to what everybody had to say and made that ultimate decision yesterday.
Saviello also
Shenna Bellows took an oath of office to protect the Constitution. That’s just what she did when she made this decision. This young woman is a very thoughtful and thorough person. So don’t attack her partisanship, the fact that she’s a Democrat. Don’t attack that, attack what the opinion was. That’s what it should be about.
And when it came to the case coming before the Supreme Court, Saviello went even farther against Trump and his high-level supporters, saying that Justice Clarence Thomas should recuse himself if the case made it to the highest court in the land: “I think all the stuff that’s come out about him and his wife on January 6, he needs to recuse himself.”
Watch the video above via CNN.