Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) defended the “powerful argument” that former President Donald Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot could prevent him from holding office under the 14th Amendment.
“In my view, the attack on the Capitol that day was designed for a particular purpose at a particular moment,” Kaine said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “And that was to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power as laid out in the Constitution. So I think there’s a powerful argument to be made,” adding the issue will likely be “resolved in the courts.”
Kaine joins a number of Democratic lawmakers and legal scholars looking into whether the clause could block Trump from reelection in 2024, including Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who stated this week that the former president is “absolutely” disqualified from future office holding on CNN this week.
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Across party lines, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson warned the clause could keep Trump off the ballots at the first Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee last week.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment clarifies that no one who has taken an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution “shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
“The language is specific — if you give aid and comfort to those who engage in an insurrection against the constitution of the United States, it doesn’t say against the United States, it says against the constitution,” Kaine said.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment clarifies that no one who has taken an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution “shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
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