US state of Maine blocks Trump from its Republican presidential primary

The US state of Maine on Thursday blocked former president Donald Trump from its Republican presidential primary ballot, becoming the second state to disqualify him over his role in the January 2021 assault on the US Capitol.

Maine's top election official, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, said in her ruling that the events of January 6, 2021 "occurred at the behest of, and with the knowledge and support of, the outgoing President."

"The US Constitution does not tolerate an assault on the foundations of our government and (Maine law) requires me to act in response," read the ruling, which came in response to challenges filed by a handful of Maine voters.

Maine joins Colorado, where the state supreme court earlier this month found Trump ineligible for the presidency, moves that will certainly be challenged in the US Supreme Court.

The rulings in both states invoked the US Constitution's 14th Amendment, which bars from office anyone formerly sworn to protect the country who later engages in insurrection.

"I do not reach this conclusion lightly," wrote Bellows, a Democrat. "I am mindful that no Secretary of State has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section Three of the 14th Amendment. I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection."

Trump's campaign quickly slammed Bellows' ruling as "attempted theft of an election and the disenfranchisement of the American voter" and called her a "virulent leftist and a hyper-partisan Biden-supporting Democrat."

"These partisan election interference efforts are a hostile assault on American democracy," campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement, accusing President Joe Biden and Democrats of "relying on the force of government institutions to protect their grip on power."

Cheung said Trump would appeal the ruling.

Fellow Republicans jumped to Trump's defense, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who is also seeking the party's nomination.

"It opens up Pandora's Box. Can you have a Republican Secretary of State disqualify Biden from the ballot?" he said.

- Super Tuesday -

The Maine decision comes as Trump remains the front-running Republican candidate to challenge Biden in next year's vote.

The two are neck-and-neck in polls, and Biden has stepped up his attacks on his predecessor in recent weeks, saying Trump "certainly supported an insurrection. No question about it, none, zero."

Biden recently told a campaign reception that "the greatest threat Trump poses is to our democracy. Because if we lose, we lose everything."

He described Trump as "sitting there, watching it unfold on TV as a mob attacked the Capitol" in the assault by the Republican's supporters on January 6, 2021, aimed at overturning Trump's loss to Biden.

Trump continues to claim, without proof, that he is the rightful winner of the 2020 vote.

He is scheduled to go on trial in Washington in March for conspiring to overturn the results of the election, and also faces racketeering charges in Georgia for allegedly conspiring to upend the election results in the southern state after his defeat.

Maine and Colorado hold their nominating contests on March 5 -- also known as "Super Tuesday" -- when voters in more than a dozen states, including populous California and Texas, go to the polls.