Maine’s secretary of state said she has received threats in the wake of her decision to remove former President Trump from the ballot under the 14th Amendment on Friday.
“I was prepared for the possibility of threats, and I really appreciate law enforcement and the people around me who have been incredibly supportive of my safety and security,” Shenna Bellows (D) said during a Friday appearance on CNN. “My safety and security is important, so is the safety and security of everyone who works with me and we have received threatening communications.”
“Those are unacceptable,” Bellows continued.
On Thursday, Bellows said she had concluded the former president “over the course of several months and culminating on January 6, 2021, used a false narrative of election fraud to inflame his supporters and direct them to the Capitol to prevent certification of the 2020 election and the peaceful transfer of power.” Bellows’ decision made Maine the second state to take such an action, after the Colorado Supreme Court last week via a 4-3 ruling.
“Mr. Trump’s occasional requests that rioters be peaceful and support law enforcement do not immunize his actions,” she said. “A brief call to obey the law does not erase conduct over the course of months, culminating in his speech on the Ellipse. The weight of the evidence makes clear that Mr. Trump was aware of the tinder laid by his multi-month effort to delegitimize a democratic election, and then chose to light a match.”
Trump’s campaign has denounced the decision and called Bellows a “virulent leftist and a hyper-partisan Biden-supporting Democrat.”
“We are witnessing, in real-time, the attempted theft of an election and the disenfranchisement of the American voter,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said. “Make no mistake, these partisan election interference efforts are a hostile assault on American democracy.”
Cheung also said the Trump campaign will appeal the ruling.