Former United States Attorney General William Barr said Colorado's decision to remove former President Donald Trump from the state Republican primary ballot is "legally wrong" and "untenable."
Barr made his assessment during a Wednesday appearance on CNN's The Lead with host Jake Tapper.
The former AG noted he "strongly" opposed Trump's bid for re-election, though lamented the Colorado Supreme Court's decision.
“But I think this case is legally wrong and untenable. I think this kind of action of stretching the law, taking these hyper-aggressive positions to try to knock Trump out of the race are counterproductive," Barr said. "They backfire. As you know, he feeds on grievance, just like a fire feeds on oxygen."
Barr said the decision would end up as "a grievance that helps" Trump.
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The former AG added the Colorado Supreme Court's Tuesday ruling denied the former President his due process.
“The core problem here is the denial of due process, to deprive somebody of the right to hold public office requires due process,” Barr said. “It requires an adjudication of two core issues. One, was there an insurrection? Did the public disturbance rise to the level of an insurrection? And second, what was the role of the individual there? Was it engagement? Did they do something to break their oath of office?”
“Those are complicated facts and this was denied due process,” he continued. “It was a five-day hearing. There was no jury, it was before the judge. They were not able to subpoena witnesses and compel the attendance of witnesses. They relied on the hearings, the January 6 Committee hearings, which is mostly hearsay. There was no right to cross examine during those hearings and so forth.”
The former United States AG said the Supreme Court of the United States would "slap [the ruling] down very quickly," adding he hopes their decision is a speedy process.
"Otherwise, he could be left off the ballot in this primary," Barr said, noting Trump's denial of due process was "fatal."
"The 14th Amendment is not something that can be applied willy-nilly by the states through sort of ad hoc proceedings. It was contemplated. The federal government set up the enforcement mechanism," he concluded. "So, you have some standard, you know, what is the proof that’s required? What’s the procedure that’s required? And hopefully, some calibration of what exactly the insurrection is.”
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled 4-3 in favor of removing Trump from the state's Republican primary ballot. The ruling is on hold pending appeal by Trump's team until Jan. 4.
“A majority of the court holds that President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution,” reads the Colorado Supreme Court ruling. “Because he is disqualified, it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Colorado Secretary of State to list him as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot.”
