Trump: Colorado Supreme Court Decision ‘Shame for Our Country’

Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump during a campaign event in Waterloo, Iowa, on Dec. 19, 2023. Scott Olson/Getty Images

When the Colorado Supreme Court issued its order to disqualify former President Donald Trump from its primary ballot in 2024, the GOP frontrunner was giving a speech at a rally in Waterloo, Iowa.

Notably missing from the remarks was any response to the unusual Colorado ruling, passed by a narrow vote with three out of seven judges dissenting. It made Colorado the first in the nation to bar President Trump from the ballot.

The Colorado high court, composed entirely of Democrat appointees, said President Trump had engaged in “insurrection” during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.

Hours later, on Truth Social, the former president posted a series of clips and quotes from experts, lawmakers, and political commentators, ending with the comment, “What a shame for our country!!!”

On Dec. 19, the Trump campaign and the former president’s legal spokesperson said they would appeal the ruling at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Should the high court appeal be filed by Jan. 4, President Trump would stay on the Colorado primary ballot.

Otherwise, the ballots without President Trump’s name will be finalized on Jan. 5, 2024.

‘Election Interference’

The Trump campaign denounced the ruling as partisan. President Trump on social media again claimed that multiple indictments and cases against him were part of a political “witch hunt” and “election interference.”

He noted that he is rising in the polls while President Joe Biden’s approval ratings are slipping.

“Biden should drop all of these fake political indictments against me, both criminal and civil,” President Trump wrote on Dec. 20.

“Every case I am fighting is the work of the DOJ and White House. No such thing has ever happened in our country before. Banana republic??? Election interference!!!”

Campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said the ruling had been “unsurprising” coming from a blue state and court. He described it as a “left-wing group’s scheme” to eliminate “the rights of Colorado voters to vote for the candidate of their choice.”

He stated that the “flawed” decision would be “swiftly” appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, “putting an end to the 14th Amendment challenges.”

Alina Habba, legal spokesperson for President Trump, said the decision “attacks the very heart of this nation’s democracy.”

“It will not stand, and we trust that the Supreme Court will reverse this unconstitutional order.”

Persistent “lawfare” against President Trump is actually swaying voters in his favor, the campaign said.

In an interview with NTD’s Capitol Report aired on Dec. 19, Ms. Habba said she’s seen people worried about what the legal system has become.

“I think they’re afraid. I think it’s scary times for our country, it’s not supposed to be corrupt, we’re not supposed to do that,” she said.

“Especially with a lot of the minority vote that we’re seeing,” she added. “They’re coming from countries that they fled because they were banana republics. And now to see America turn into a banana republic is a very frightening thing.

“Don’t think that just because your state is red you don’t have to get out and vote.”

Mr. Cheung also stated that voters have “lost faith in the failed Biden presidency,” which he claimed was “now doing everything they can to stop the American voters from throwing them out of office next November.”

Other Candidates Condemn Ruling

Even some political rivals for the 2024 race have criticized the Colorado Supreme Court ruling.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running as an independent candidate for president, blasted the decision on social media.

“Trump blocked from the ballot in Colorado. When a court in another country disqualifies an opposition candidate from running, we say, ‘That’s not a real democracy.’ Now it’s happening here,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“I’m not a Trump supporter (if I were, I wouldn’t be running against him!). But I want to beat him in a fair election, not because he was kicked off the ballot. Let the voters choose, not the courts!”

Vivek Ramaswamy pledged to withdraw from the Colorado primary ballot if the decision to remove President Trump wasn’t reversed.

“And I demand that Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, and Nikki Haley do the same immediately—or else they are tacitly endorsing this illegal maneuver which will have disastrous consequences for our country,” he said in a social media post.

Mr. DeSantis rebuked the court for what he described as overreach as well.

“The Left invokes ‘democracy’ to justify its use of power, even if it means abusing judicial power to remove a candidate from the ballot based on spurious legal grounds. SCOTUS should reverse,” he posted on X.

Ms. Haley was more subtle when she responded to reporters’ questions at a campaign event in Iowa on Dec. 19.

“I will beat him fair and square. We don’t need to have judges making these decisions, we need voters to make these decisions,” she said.

Mr. Christie similarly said at a campaign event that he didn’t think President Trump should be elected, but that it wasn’t a decision for the courts.

However, the White House declined to comment. One reporter on Air Force One asked, “does the President believe that Donald Trump was an insurrectionist?”

Karine Jean-Pierre White House Press Secretary, said “He’s not gonna get into a legal process here. I’m not going to speak to the decision that Colorado has made. No comment.”

Asked directly by a reporter, President Biden said he would “not comment on a court case,” but added that there was “no question” that President Trump is an “insurrectionist.”

“Is Trump an insurrection, sir?” one reporter asked.

President Biden said he would leave to the courts whether the 14th Amendment applies, but President Trump “certainly supported insurrection, no question about it, none, zero. He seems to be doubling down on everything.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the timeline of events. The Colorado Supreme Court stay on its order ends Jan. 4, 2024. The Epoch Times regrets the error.

Update: The article has been updated with comments by President Joe Biden.