‘Donald Trump very clearly engaged in an insurrection’: 41 Democrats introduce bill to ban ex-president from office

U.S. Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), joined by 40 of his House Democratic colleagues Thursday, introduced a lengthy bill that would ban Donald Trump from becoming president again after he attempted a coup.

“Donald Trump very clearly engaged in an insurrection on January 6, 2021 with the intention of overturning the lawful and fair results of the 2020 election,” Cicilline says in a press release. “You don’t get to lead a government you tried to destroy.”

“Even Mitch McConnell admits that Trump bears responsibility, saying on the Senate floor that ‘[t]here’s no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.’ The 14th Amendment makes clear that based on his past behavior, Donald Trump is disqualified from ever holding federal office again and, under Section 5, Congress has the power to pass legislation to implement this prohibition,” Cicilline adds.

Last month in a letter to his colleagues Rep. Cicilline explained the bill, citing Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.

“This language in our Constitution clearly intended to bar insurrectionists from holding high office in the United States. Given the proof – demonstrated through the January 6th Committee Hearings, the 2021 impeachment trial, and other reporting – that Donald Trump engaged in insurrection on January 6th with the intention of overturning the lawful 2020 election results, I have drafted legislation that would prevent Donald Trump from holding public office again under the Fourteenth Amendment,” Cicilline wrote, according to ABC News.

The bill’s text says its purpose is to “provide that Donald J. Trump is ineligible to again hold the office of President of the United States or to hold any office, civil or military, under the United States.”

It also says, “Mr. Donald J. Trump did engage in insurrection against the United States by mobilizing, inciting, and aiding those who attacked the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, to disrupt certification of the 2020 Presidential Election as required by the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution and the Electoral Count Act of 1887 (3 U.S.C. 15), and a majority of both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate concluded as much through the House of Representatives’ vote to impeach Mr. Trump for high crimes and misdemeanors and the majority of the Senate voting to convict Mr. Trump of Incitement of Insurrection on February 13, 2021, with a vote of 57–43.”

One month ago today Trump announced he is again running for president, some say in the hopes of avoiding criminal prosecution.

“In recent months,” Rolling Stone reported in July, “Trump has made clear to associates that the legal protections of occupying the Oval Office are front-of-mind for him, four people with knowledge of the situation tell Rolling Stone.”

As Vox notes, there are four major criminal investigations into Trump’s actions.

Rep. Cicilline says the bill’s original co-sponsors include Representatives Earl Blumenauer; Jamaal Bowman; Tony Cardenas; Andre Carson; Sean Casten; Judy Chu; Yvette Clarke; Emanuel Cleaver, II; Gerald E. Connolly; Danny K. Davis; Mark DeSaulnier; Adriano Espaillat; Dwight Evans; Jimmy Gomez; Al Green; Sheila Jackson Lee; Pramila Jayapal; Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr.; Mondaire Jones; Conor Lamb; Barbara Lee; Ted W. Lieu; Alan Lowenthal; James P. McGovern; Jerry McNerney; Marie Newman; Eleanor Holmes Norton; Donald M. Payne, Jr.; Chellie Pingree; Lucille Roybal-Allard; Jan Schakowsky; Mark Takano; Rashida Tlaib; Ritchie Torres; Nydia M. Velázquez; Bonnie Watson Coleman; Nikema Williams; and Frederica S. Wilson.