Trump blasts 14th Amendment hearing, voices confidence in Supreme Court

Former President Trump on Thursday blasted a Supreme Court hearing over his eligibility to be on the ballot in Colorado as an example of “election interference” but seemed to express confidence that the arguments from his side were well received.

“It’s unfortunate that we have to go through a thing like that. I consider it to be more election interference by the Democrats,” Trump said in remarks from his Mar-a-Lago estate shortly after arguments concluded at the Supreme Court.

Trump said he listened to the hearing and called it a “very beautiful process.” He called the presentation by his lawyers “a very good one” and said he thought it was “well received.”

“I hope that democracy in this country will continue, because right now we have a very, very tough situation with all of the radical-left ideas with the weaponization of politics,” he said. “They weaponize it like it’s never been weaponized before. It’s totally illegal, but they do it anyway.”

Trump’s remarks otherwise included numerous attacks on President Biden’s competence, and he falsely claimed every investigation into his conduct was emanating from the White House.

Trump’s lawyers appeared before the justices on Thursday in an attempt to dismiss a lawsuit based in Colorado challenging the former president’s ballot eligibility under the 14th Amendment’s “insurrection clause.”

Thursday’s oral arguments marked the most momentous milestone yet in the patchwork of challenges seeking to prevent Trump’s return to the White House due to his actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. 

The Supreme Court agreed to take up the matter after Colorado became the first state to disqualify Trump, and the justices’ decision is poised to dictate Trump’s ballot status nationwide.

The justices on Thursday appeared broadly skeptical of efforts to remove Trump from the ballot.

Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 to try and stop the certification of President Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. Trump himself had spent weeks falsely claiming the results were fraudulent, and on the morning of Jan. 6 he urged his supporters to march to the Capitol.