House Democrats introduce legislation to bar Trump from office under the 14th Amendment

A group of 40 House Democrats, led by Rep. David Cicilline (RI), on Thursday introduced a bill barring former President Trump from future federal office under the 14th Amendment.

Section 3 of the amendment states that no one who has previously sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution and has engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” shall “hold any office, civil or military, under the United States.”

Cicillin said in a statement announcing the legislation that Trump “very clearly” engaged in an insurrection on January 6, 2021, with the intention of overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election.

“You can’t run a government that you tried to destroy,” he said.

The statement said the bill includes testimony and evidence demonstrating how Trump engaged in the insurgency.

The bill also specifically outlines how Trump helped encourage violence on January 6, tried to intimidate state and federal officials when they failed to support his false claims that the election had been robbed and refused to denounce the crowd that stormed the Capitol for hours during the riot.

“The 14th Amendment makes it clear that because of his past behavior, Donald Trump is disqualified from holding federal office again and, under Section 5, Congress has the power to pass legislation to implement this. ban,” Cicilline said.

Cicilline, who was responsible for impeachment in Trump’s first impeachment, tont a letter to fellow Democrats last month to solicit co-sponsors for a bill to bar Trump from office.

Trump was impeached for “inciting insurrection” the day after Jan. 6, but he was acquitted by the Senate. It was the second time Trump had been impeached, the first coming in December 2019.

Last month, Trump became the first major candidate to announce his bid for president in 2024.

The 14th Amendment was ratified in the aftermath of the Civil War, when ex-Confederates and breakaway states joined the Union.