Maine’s move to exclude Trump from voting ‘makes him a martyr’

• Chris Christie criticized Maine’s recent decision to exclude Trump from the 2024 Republican primary.
• The former New Jersey governor said in an interview with CNN that Trump’s political fate should be left to voters.
• Christie said Maine Secretary of State Shena Bellows’ actions are “bad for our democracy.”

Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie on Friday criticized Maine Secretary of State Shena Bellows’ decision to exclude former President Donald Trump from the state’s Republican primary, saying the move turned the former president into a “martyr.” He insisted that it should be changed.

Christie, a former political ally of President Donald Trump who has now become one of his sharpest Republican critics, said in an interview on CNN that the former president’s political fate should be in the hands of voters. He claimed that.

“It makes him a martyr,” Christie said of Mayne’s decision. “You know, he’s very good at playing the ‘poor me, poor me’ thing and complaining all the time about the poor millionaires in New York who are using up other people’s money to pay their legal fees. He is an elder.”

“This should be decided by American voters,” he continued. “That should not be decided by the courts.”

Bellows, a Democrat, ruled that President Trump is ineligible to appear on the ballot because of his actions before and during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, and the secretary of state’s office on Thursday, p. 34 The decision referred to the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

“My conclusion is that the record shows that for months, culminating on January 6, 2021, Mr. “We conclude that the evidence shows they were lured to the Capitol in order to prevent the certification of elections and the peaceful transfer of power,” she wrote. “I similarly believe that Mr. Trump recognized the potential for violence, encouraged it with inflammatory statements, and failed to take timely action to stop it, at least initially. We conclude that he supported the use of violence.”

Bellows cited Section 3 of the 14th Amendment in his ruling, which was also cited in the Colorado Supreme Court’s recent decision to exclude Trump from the state’s Republican primary. Article 3 contains language that says that no person who has “participated in rebellion or insurrection” may hold public office, contrary to the U.S. Constitution.

In an interview Friday, Mr. Christie reiterated his belief that Mr. Trump’s political future should be determined by voters at the polls.

The former New Jersey governor said of Maine’s decision, “People may think there’s a justification for doing that, but it’s not good for our democracy.” “Ultimately, Donald Trump will be defeated by voters at the polls, and he will be defeated by people like me who are willing to tell the truth about him. That’s how we’ll defeat him.”

Mr. Bellows suspended the decision to allow a court appeal, so Mr. Trump could still be on Maine’s ballot next year.

The Trump campaign, which plans to appeal the decision, slammed Bellows.

“We are witnessing in real time the attempted theft of an election and the disenfranchisement of American voters,” Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Chan said in a statement. “Make no mistake, these partisan election interference efforts are a hostile attack on American democracy.”