Trump disqualification argument backed by top Senate Democrat

Washington DC - A top Democratic senator is backing an increasingly popular legal argument for barring former President Donald Trump from running in the 2024 elections.

Virginia Senator Tim Kaine (l.) thinks there is a "powerful argument" that Donald Trump should be disqualified under the 14 Amendment from running for president.
Virginia Senator Tim Kaine (l.) thinks there is a "powerful argument" that Donald Trump should be disqualified under the 14 Amendment from running for president.  © Collage: Drew Angerer / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP & CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP

Virginia Senator Tim Kaine added his voice to those calling for Trump to be disqualified under the 14th Amendment, which – among other stipulations – explicitly blocks anyone who has "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the US Constitution.

"In my view, the attack on the Capitol that day was designed for particular purpose at a particular moment, and that was to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power as is laid out in the Constitution," Kaine told ABC's This Week host George Stephanopoulos.

"I think there is a powerful argument to be made. My sense is it's probably going to get resolved in the courts," he added.

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Kaine also revealed that he and other Democrats had floated the idea of going down the 14th Amendment route instead of impeaching Trump for a second time in January 2021, a week after the deadly Capitol riot staged by his supporters.

In view of Trump's all-but-confirmed status as the Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election, the theory that he should be constitutionally blocked from running again due to his attempts to overturn his 2020 loss to Joe Biden has been picking up steam.

Two influential conservative legal scholars made that case in an op-ed published by The Atlantic last month.

Cover photo: Collage: Drew Angerer / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP & CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP

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