Shenna Bellows Calls Motion to Impeach Her ‘Absurd’ After Trump Ruling

Maine’s top election official, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, called any impeachment attempt against her “absurd” over her decision to keep former President Donald Trump off the 2024 Republican primary ballot.

According to the Associated Press, at least one Republican lawmaker has vowed to pursue impeachment against Bellows, a Democrat, despite long odds in the Democratic-controlled Legislature.

In an appearance with MSNBC’s Symone Sanders-Townsend on Saturday night, Bellows stated she was “doing her job and following the law in Maine” in ruling Trump is ineligible to run based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which refers to the law on insurrectionists holding high office.

Bellows responded to Sanders-Townsend about the impeachment motion and claims that it disenfranchises Maine voters to remove Trump from the upcoming primary ballot.

“It’s absurd, particularly you don’t impeach someone for doing their job, as directed by the Maine State Legislature. I qualify Trump for the ballot based on his petitions and signatures. And then, it was (five) registered Maine voters who have the right to do that (challenge the nomination petition), under Maine state law.

“They brought that challenge, and under the legislature’s directive to me, I must hold a hearing within five days, which I did, and then I am required by the law to issue a decision on that hearing within five days of the conclusion of the proceedings.”

Newsweek reached out to Bellows’ office via email for additional comments.

Maine’s five challenges to Trump were brought forward by two former Republican state senators and a former Democratic state senator, along with two citizens.

On Thursday, Bellows concluded that Trump’s primary petition is invalid. Specifically, her ruling states “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.”

The Trump team is expected to appeal the Maine decision.

“So, to impeach me for doing my job and following the law here in Maine is absurd,” Bellows continued to Sanders-Townsend. “It’s some of this inflammatory rhetoric, attack the person rather than debate the issue at hand. Distract the public from the issue at hand, rather than focusing on the rule of law and the Constitution.”

According to the Associated Press, Maine state Rep. John Andrews called Bellows’ decision “hyper-partisanship on full display” as he requested an impeachment proceeding. He said he sent a notice to the state revisor’s office for a joint order when lawmakers’ return to the State House in Augusta next week.

“There is bipartisan opposition to the extreme decision made by the secretary of state. She has clearly overstepped her authority. It remains to be seen if her effort at voter suppression will garner enough Democrat support to remove her from her position,” House Republican leader Billy Bob Faulkingham told the Associated Press.

In a recent statement, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung called Bellows a “virulent leftist” who was interfering in the election.

Cheung added: “The Maine Secretary of State is a former ACLU attorney and a hyper-partisan Biden-supporting Democrat who has decided to interfere in the presidential election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden.

“We are witnessing, in real-time, the attempted theft of an election and the disenfranchisement of the American voter,” Cheung said.

Trump has also been removed from the ballot in Colorado after a 4-3 decision by the state’s Supreme Court based on Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The ruling in Colorado has already been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Several other states are still weighing challenges that seek to remove Trump from their 2024 primary ballots.