It's time for states to remove Trump from the 2024 ballot: ethics watchdog

One key allegation against Donald Trump should prevent him from ever serving as president or any other elected office, according to a government watchdog.

The House select committee approved a criminal referral for the twice-impeached former president on four charges, including insurrection against the U.S. government, which would prohibit him from serving government office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, argued NBC News guest columnist Noah Bookbinder.

"[The Constitution] makes it clear that no individual who engages in insurrection or rebellion against the Constitution after having previously sworn an oath to support it can hold any federal or state office," writes Bookbinder, head of executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics. "This provision establishes a basic qualification for the presidency, no different than the qualifications for age, citizenship and residency."

Federal prosecutors still have not completed their own investigations into Trump's actions, but Bookbinder urged courts and secretaries of state to remove him from the presidential ballot in 2024 under individual state laws, because the Constitution does not spell out a disqualification procedure for insurrectionists -- and CREW already helped successfully challenge the candidacy of a Jan. 6 participant in New Mexico.

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"Now, some might say that Jan. 6 was very different from the Civil War, and it was — but the difference is only in scale, not intent," Bookbinder writes. "And just as the 14th Amendment recognizes that insurrectionist dangers did not end at Appomattox, the Trump insurrectionist threat did not end on Jan. 7, when Vice President Mike Pence certified President Joe Biden’s victory. In fact, Trump continues to push his lost cause in every speech he gives and every social media message he posts."