Nikki Haley,now considered by some to be Trump’s greatest rival for the Republican nomination,hit out at his disqualification.Credit:Getty
With 13 days to go until the first votes are cast in Iowa for the Republican primaries – in which party members get to choose their preferred presidential nominee – Trump has used the Colorado and Maine decisions to fundraise and build momentum in his campaign to win his party’s presidential nomination.
The 77-year-old is already theoverwhelming frontrunner in the Republican race,despite facing 91 criminal charges across four different trials,and is now more than 30 points ahead of his Republican rivals,who include Florida Governor Ron DeSantis,former UN ambassador Nikki Haley and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie.
In another sign of his tendency to defy the odds,Trump’s poll numbers have surged every time he has been indicted,fuelling concerns among Democrats that trying to stop him from contesting the election could do more harm than good.
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“I have very,very strong reservations about all of this,” former Obama administration adviser David Axelrod told CNN after the Maine decision last week.
“I do think it would rip the country apart if he were actually prevented from running because tens of millions of people want to vote for him.”
Trump’s rivals have also weighed in,with Haley,Christie and DeSantis all agreeing he should have the right to run against them for the Republican nomination.
Trump filed his appeal to the Kennebec Superior Court of Maine on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT),five days after its Democratic Secretary of State Shenna Bellowsdeclared his name should not be on the ballot because of his actions surrounding the attack on the US Capitol on January 6,2021.
In a sign of a potentially chaotic election season,one day after the Maine decision,Bellows was “swatted”,with a fake sending police to her home.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.Credit:AP
She becomes the latest elected politician to become a target of “swatting”,ormaking a phone call to emergency services with the intent that a large first responder presence will show up at a residence.
Trump is not the only person who faces court this year as the US election kicks into gear.
Also on Tuesday,Democratic senator Bob Menendez – who pleaded not guilty last year over an alleged scheme that involved taking bribes in exchange for helping the Egyptian government with military aid – faced additional allegations of wrongdoing,this time relating to his dealings with Qatar.
In a supplementary indictment by a federal grand jury,Menendez,who is one of the most high-profile AUKUS allies in the US Congress,was accused of making positive comments about Qatar in exchange foritems of value,including luxury watches worth between $US10,000 and $US24,000.
He was a member of the powerful Senate foreign relations committee at the time.
Meanwhile,President Joe Biden’s son Hunter also faces the prospect of a trial for tax evasion,which could present a major political headache as his father seeks re-election in November.
In an indictment filed in a US district court in California last month,prosecutors alleged that Hunter Biden “engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019”.