Statement from Secretary Griswold on Impeachment Committee Hearing

Denver, April 9, 2024 - At 1:30 PM today, the House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee will convene for a hearing on the impeachment resolution.

Secretary Griswold has issued the following statement:

“Colorado House Republicans have embraced election conspiracies and political games. Every elected official should speak up about the attacks on democracy. Instead, Colorado House Republicans ignore the truth: Donald Trump engaged in insurrection and tried to steal the presidency. As Secretary of State, I will always protect our elections and democracy from attack. This sham inquiry will not deter me from doing the work of ensuring every Coloradan – Republican, Democrat, and Unaffiliated alike – can have their voice heard in free and fair elections.”

Background

On September 6, 2023, six Colorado Republican and Unaffiliated voters brought a lawsuit against Secretary Griswold. The lawsuit, in which Secretary Griswold was a defendant in her capacity as Secretary, sought to bar Mr. Trump from the 2024 Colorado Presidential Primary ballot under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution for his role in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

On December 19, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled Donald Trump was ineligible to appear on the Colorado 2024 Presidential Primary Ballot due to the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Colorado Supreme Court simultaneously stayed that ruling, with that stay remaining in place in the event of an appeal.

As Mr. Trump and the Colorado Republican Party separately appealed the Colorado Supreme Court ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, Mr. Trump was included as a candidate on Colorado’s 2024 Presidential Primary Ballot when Secretary Griswold certified the ballot on January 5, 2024.

On March 4, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states did not have the authority to bar federal candidates from the ballot under the provisions of the 14th Amendment without Congress first acting, thus making Mr. Trump an eligible candidate. Votes cast for Mr. Trump were counted in the March 5 Presidential Primary.

As a defendant in the case, Secretary Griswold stated throughout the proceedings that she would follow the order of the courts.

House Republicans’ resolution of impeachment is factually incorrect. Donald Trump has been found by three courts to have engaged in insurrection. He was on the Colorado Republican Presidential Primary ballot.