Trump-endorsed Republican seeks to disqualify him from 2024 election.
A Former Senate Candidate Takes on Trump’s Eligibility for 2024
A former New Hampshire Senate candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump is now vowing to file litigation to keep the former president off the state’s primary ballot, a move that could lead to neither of the presidential frontrunners being on their party’s ticket in the key battleground state.
Bryant “Corky” Messner, a Republican who lost his 2020 Senate bid, believes that President Trump is not constitutionally qualified to serve again. Messner alleges that Trump incited the protests at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“I believe in the Constitution, and I think someone needs to step up to make sure that the Constitution is, in fact, enforced,” said Mr. Messner.
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Mr. Messner plans to pursue a legal path to keep President Trump from being the GOP 2024 nominee, he told New Hampshire News Radio 610 WGIR-AM this week.
Messner argues that Trump is disqualified to run under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states that anyone who has engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States shall be disqualified from holding office.
President Trump’s New Hampshire campaign senior adviser, Stephen Stepanek, did not respond to inquiries from The Epoch Times.
Others recently floating the same idea for keeping President Trump off primary ballots in their states are fellow GOP contender and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“A number of legal scholars said [President Trump] is disqualified because of his actions on January 6,” Hutchinson said recently in a CNN interview.
If Mr. Messner’s bid is successful in New Hampshire, that would mean neither President Trump nor President Joe Biden would appear on the ballot in what has been recognized as the first-in-the-nation (FITN) primary state.
President Biden has said he would not acknowledge New Hampshire’s designated primary day unless it follows South Carolina’s newly designated first-in-the-nation primary status, as per his agenda to reorder the primary schedule.
New Hampshire politicians, including the all-Democrat Washington representatives, have made a bipartisan pledge to preserve their state’s FITN status.
Even Ms. Shaheen has denounced the move.
“I fear stripping New Hampshire of its long-held position could be consequential,” she told public radio NHPR in June.
Mr. Messner said his first move in his quest to keep President Trump off New Hampshire’s 2024 GOP primary ticket is to ask New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan to update the criteria for presidential eligibility to include disqualification for violating Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.
He pointed out that Mr. Scanlan’s office only lists the requirements as established under Article II of the U.S. Constitution, which include being a natural-born citizen, at least 35 years of age, and having resided in the United States for at least 14 years.
“I’m calling on him to change that now,” said Mr. Messner.
Mr. Scanlan, a former Republican state representative, did not respond to requests for comment from The Epoch Times on Mr. Messner’s proposal.
Communications Director Anna Sventek told The Epoch Times that Mr. Scanlan has decided to confer with the New Hampshire Attorney General and other legal counsel on the issue.
“However, he believes any action taken under this constitutional provision will have to be based on judicial guidance,” said Mrs. Sventek.
Mr. Messner broached the idea two days before President Trump’s booking in Georgia on charges he interfered with the presidential election there, and just a few
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