Ross: Will WA Republicans turn a blind eye to Trump’s crimes?
Aug 15, 2023, 9:10 AM | Updated: 9:20 am
FILE - Former President Donald Trump walks to speak with reporters before boarding his plane at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Aug. 3, 2023, in Arlington, Va. The federal judge overseeing the 2020 election conspiracy case against Donald Trump will hear arguments over a request by prosecutors for a protective order seeking to bar the former president from publicly disclosing evidence shared by the government. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
We now have Trump’s Georgia indictment: Listing 161 overt acts committed by former President Donald Trump and his team as part of a conspiracy to keep him in office past January 20, 2021.
It took a while, but we are witnessing a historic moment: a conspiracy that Trump supporters actually do not believe in.
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Obviously, he is not guilty unless convicted. But it sets up a difficult decision for the Republican party because whether Trump is convicted or not, everybody knows what he tried to do. We saw it for ourselves.
He is the first President to set up a private organization for the purpose of keeping himself in office past the term set by the Constitution.
So even if he gets off and walks free, it doesn鈥檛 change what he did. It just means he won鈥檛 be criminally punished for it.
So when the time comes for the Presidential primary elections, what will the Secretaries of State do if Donald J. Trump is on the list?
Under the Constitution, in order to serve, a presidential candidate must have been born on American territory, be at least 35 years of age, and must never have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the Constitution of the United States.
The question is who enforces those requirements.
Presumably, if the name of a known underage candidate was submitted, the Secretaries of State would reject it.
But what if the name of a known insurrectionist was submitted?
When I asked our Secretary of State鈥檚 office whose job it is to enforce that, I got an email from spokesman Derrick Nunnally who wrote, 鈥淧olitical parties submit the candidate names to appear on the primary ballot … The Secretary of State has no statutory power to evaluate a candidate鈥檚 qualifications for the office, which are set in federal law.鈥�
And sure enough: under the , the party chair submits the names. So in the case of the State Republican Party, it鈥檚 State Representative Jim Walsh who will decide whether Donald Trump is eligible for the primary ballot in Washington.
He鈥檚 the one who will have to decide whether those 161 overt acts in furtherance of a conspiracy to violate the Constitution really happened, or can simply be ignored.
Listen to Seattle鈥檚 Morning News with Dave Ross and Colleen O鈥橞rien weekday mornings from 5 鈥� 9 a.m. on 成人X站 Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the聽podcast here.
