On Tuesday, America First Legal (AFL) opened an investigation under Maine’s Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) of Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ December 28, 2023, “decision” to remove Donald J. Trump from Maine’s 2024 Republican primary for President of the United States. Apparently for the purpose of 2024 Presidential election interference, Ms. Bellows, a partisan Democrat party operative, “found” that the former President’s primary petition is invalid, ostensibly because “the declaration on his candidate consent form is false because he is not qualified to hold the office of the President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
Ms. Bellows’s course of conduct raises obvious questions of unlawful bias, taint, and prejudice. It also suggests the possibility of illegal coordination with leftist dark money entities funded by, inter alia, the Tides Foundation, that are engaged in efforts to undermine and prevent a fair and open 2024 Presidential election.
Notably, at least one of the entities that may be coordinating with Ms. Bellows has admitted to engaging in concerted efforts to undermine and overturn the 2016 Presidential election, and his organization, Free Speech for People, has asked election officials in all 50 states to remove Trump from the ballot.
Moreover, as intervenors in the case, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (“CREW”), represented the petitioners who sued to remove Trump from the Colorado Republican presidential primary ballot, and Ms. Bellows significantly relied on the arguments and evidence presented in that case.
America First Legal is absolutely committed to protecting free and fair elections in the United States. Partisan politicians who attempt to interfere in elections unlawfully must be held accountable under the law.
Statement from Gene Hamilton, America First Legal Vice President and General Counsel:
“There is an active and concerted effort by liberal elites and their allies to subvert the will of the American people and to undermine our constitutional republic. It is egregious, it is un-American, and it must be stopped. We are committed to protecting the rights of the American people and to exposing the extent of the subversive activities occurring,“ said Gene Hamilton.
Read the FOAA here.
