The ruling, which is certain to face court challenges, marks the latest attempt by states to keep the former president—and frontrunner for the Republican nomination in polls weeks before the first votes are cast—off the ballot.
“We are witnessing, in real-time, the attempted theft of an election and the disenfranchisement of the American voter,” Trump’s campaign said in a statement yesterday, shortly after Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, released her decision.
Bellows said she took action after receiving three challenges from Maine voters, and cited Trump’s actions during the insurrection at the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “I do not reach this conclusion lightly. Democracy is sacred,” she wrote. Bellows added that Trump could appeal her decision.
“I am mindful that no secretary of state has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment,” she said. “I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection.”
The Trump campaign noted that other states have blocked efforts to keep the former president off the ballot. “State courts in Michigan and Minnesota have rejected these bad-faith, bogus 14th Amendment ballot challenges, as have federal courts in New Hampshire, Arizona, Florida, Rhode Island, West Virginia,” and others, it wrote. Read more from John Harney.
BIDEN’S AGENDA
- President Joe Biden has no public events today.
CONGRESS’ SCHEDULE
- The House and Senate are off until January.
Happening on the Hill
THE NEW YEAR will be consequential for online health care as multiple pandemic-era telemedicine measures are set to phase out, leaving many in the industry anxious over which will be kept, telehealth policy watchers said.
- Congress’s legislative agenda for 2024 will include industry-backed bills aiming to permanently extend flexibilities that patients and providers came to rely on during the Covid-19 public health emergency.
- Flexibilities on the line include provisions that address the scope of Medicare reimbursement to telemedicine providers, telehealth access for underinsured Americans, and online controlled substance prescribing, along with other policies that were consequential for a growing telehealth industry. Read More
THE IRS, in its second full year with the infusion of billions in tax-and-climate law funds, is set to continue its 150-page plan for the money and flaunt to Congress just what a funded revenue service can do. Read More
Defense & Foreign Affairs
THE US MILITARY is trying to reassure shipping companies that a global force is making it safe to sail through the Red Sea and Suez Canal even though attacks from Yemen-based Houthi rebels show no sign of stopping.
- The Pentagon is “engaged with industry on a near-daily basis to gauge needs and provide reassurance” to the industry, a Defense Department spokesperson said. So far, that’s not proving enough. Read More
- New Sanctions: The White House has sanctioned one person and three money exchanges it said have helped transfer millions of dollars to the Houthis on behalf of Iran. Read More
SECRETARY LLOYD AUSTIN announced a milestone for the Pentagon: Four Offices of Special Trial Counsel within the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps have reached full operational capability. Read More
UKRAINE’S premier sounded the alarm over the country’s finances, requesting an emergency meeting with international donors as Kyiv confronts “exceptionally high uncertainty” over its budget. Read More
SPACEX’S powerful Falcon Heavy rocket lofted a secretive space plane for the US Space Force yesterday night from Florida, the first time the rocket was used to send Boeing’s experimental vessel to orbit. Read More
People, Power, and Politics
A FEDERAL JUDGE approved Georgia’s congressional districts, drawn to favor the GOP, finding that the creation of a majority-Black district around Atlanta satisfies calls for a map that doesn’t dilute Black votes.
- The approval of the maps will likely allow for Republicans to retain the 9-5 majority they hold among the state’s congressional seats in 2024, while remaining the majority party in the state Senate and House.
- US District Judge Steve Jones wrote the maps “fully complied” with his October order for the General Assembly to redraw an earlier version that he said discriminated against Black voters. Read More
REP. LAUREN BOEBERT’S decision to run in a different part of Colorado was smoothed by a colleague’s decision to retire, creating an opening on less-competitive turf for the conservative firebrand. Read More
NIKKI HALEY sought to tamp down controversy over remarks that failed to identify slavery as the cause of the American Civil War, following criticism from both Democrats and Republicans. Read More
What Else We’re Watching
THE WHITE HOUSE warned it will sue Texas if the state and Gov. Greg Abbott (R) enforces an aggressive new law it says circumvents federal immigration authority, set to take effect in March. Read More
LOUISIANA’S bid to take the lead role in vetting and overseeing carbon dioxide storage wells in the state was granted by the US, a blow to environmentalists and some residents who battled the plan. Read More
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