GOP senator: Barring Trump from Colorado ballot a ‘blatant political decision’

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) on Wednesday blasted the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling that former President Trump should be barred from the ballot in that state under the 14th Amendment as “a blatant political decision.”  

Hagerty, who endorsed Trump’s campaign for president in April and served as Trump’s ambassador to Japan, told Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo that “we have a ruling here that would disenfranchise half of Colorado.” 

“There’s been no due process here at all, this is a blatant political decision,” he argued.  

Hagerty then sought to link the 4-3 state court ruling to the Biden administration and President Biden’s weak poll numbers, though the administration doesn’t appoint justices to the Colorado court.  

“Every week that passes, the public sees more and more the desperation of the Biden administration. The fact that they’re losing in the polls leads to results like this. And they have literally no interest in the democratic process,” Hagerty said.  

The court’s seven justices were appointed by former Democratic Govs. Bill Ritter and John Hickenlooper, and current Democratic Gov. Jared Polis. 

Hagerty said the ruling to boot Trump from the Colorado ballot in 2024 poses a greater threat to democracy than anything Democrats are warning about if Trump, who resisted transferring power to Joe Biden in 2021, is elected to another term in the White House.  

“The real threat is rulings just like this,” Hagerty said.  

Hagerty, who spent time with Trump on Monday, said Trump won’t be intimidated by the legal challenges he faces, which include the 91 felony charges across four criminal trials. 

“As long as he keeps fighting for the American people, the American people are going to support him. That’s precisely the reason he’s being attacked, because the establishment is deeply uncomfortable by a disruptor. He’s an outsider, he’s a businessman,” the Tennessee senator said.  

The conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court is expected to review the Colorado court’s decision, and many Republicans expect the court in Washington to overrule it.  

“I think it’s got to go to the Supreme Court. It will happen quickly,” Hagerty said. “I think the Supreme Court is going to have to put its foot down. 

“The Democrats have been laying the predicate to contaminate the Supreme Court, to somehow dissuade the American public from trusting the Supreme Court but they have to do their job,” he said.