New Hampshire secretary of state: No legal grounds to keep Trump off 2024 ballot

The New Hampshire Secretary of State on Wednesday said there are no legal grounds to not allow Donald Trump on the primary ballot in the state.

“There is no mention in New Hampshire state statute that a candidate in a New Hampshire presidential primary can be disqualified using the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution, referencing insurrection or rebellion,” David Scanlan (R) said at a news conference. 

“Similarly, there is nothing in the 14th amendment that suggests that exercising the provisions of that amendment should take place during the delegate selection process held by the different states,” the Secretary of State continued.

Scanlan’s announcement comes as a group of New Hampshire lawmakers recently pressed him to deny those who would attempt to keep Trump off the ballot in the state using the 14th Amendment. Minnesota and Colorado have faced legal attempts to block Trump from primary ballots under a Reconstruction-era clause in the amendment barring those who have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof” from public office.

“President Donald J. Trump is once again at the forefront of political attacks, this time by those who are attempting to disqualify the former President from appearing on New Hampshire’s primary ballot by weaponizing Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment against him,” the New Hampshire legislators wrote in a letter from the Trump campaign to Scanlan.