WASHINGTON, D.C. (WWNY) – Rep. Elise Stefanik, who represents much of the north country in congress, defended former President Donald Trump Tuesday, as Trump faces a consequential week in court.
Tuesday morning, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled Trump does not have immunity from prosecution in the case in which he’s accused of plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether Trump can be kept off the ballot this November because of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
Stefanik is an ardent defender of Trump and is widely seen as a potential running mate for the former president.
On the Court of Appeals decision, Stefanik said in a statement that it “sets a dangerous precedent, violates our Constitution, and threatens the very bedrock of our nation.
“President Trump’s actions surrounding election integrity were within his official duties as the President as he was investigating legitimate Constitutional questions about the election.”
Trump is accused of instigating and encouraging the January 6, 2021 rioters, as the culmination of an increasingly desperate effort to hold onto power after he lost to Joe Biden in the November, 2020 election.
As for the case coming before the Supreme Court Thursday, Stefanik said in Washington “that President Donald Trump did not engage in insurrection or rebellion against the United States. That is a fact. Rogue, Far Left Democrat operatives are attempting to use this lie to illegally take President Trump off the ballot.”
Stefanik is one of the co-sponsors of a bill in the House of Representatives which states Trump did not engage in insurrection.
“This week, the Supreme Court will begin arguments in Trump v. Anderson to determine if liberal activists’ judges have the right to erase Donald Trump from the ballot, steal the election and the American people’s right to elect our leaders,” Stefanik said.
The Supreme Court is being asked to rule on whether a section of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution applies to Trump. The section forbids officers of the U.S. government from ever holding office again, if they engaged in or supported insurrection.
In Colorado, the state’s highest court ruled Trump did, indeed, engage in insurrection and that the 14th Amendment applied to him; Maine also has taken similar action. Other states have rejected challenges to Trump being on the ballot.