Rep. Eric Swalwell to testify in Trump 14th Amendment disqualification trial
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) is expected to testify in a Colorado trial aiming to determine whether former President Trump is eligible to be on the state's 2024 ballot under the 14th Amendment's "insurrectionist ban."
A lawyer for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which brought the case, said Monday that Swalwell will explain "how the mob" that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, "disrupted the core constitutional process of a peaceful transfer of power."
Swalwell has said he was among the last lawmakers to leave the House floor during the Capitol attack.
"I thought it was one of the safest places, one of the most heavily fortified places in the world," Swalwell told the San Francisco Chronicle in January 2021. "That's one of the most unsettling things about the day. It is such a sacred, symbolic and fortified space. I am still in disbelief."
The lawsuit, filed in September by CREW and six Colorado voters, suggests that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment disqualifies Trump from holding office again. The amendment says that anyone who took an oath to support the Constitution but then "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against it cannot hold office.
The plaintiffs assert that Trump's role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack — inflaming his supporters with false claims of election fraud and directing their aim at the Capitol — meets that threshold.
Colorado Judge Sarah Wallace is overseeing the bench trial, meaning there is no jury and she will be the sole decider of the case's outcome.
Wallace said the trial will address nine topics, including the meaning of "engaged" and "insurrection" as used in the 14th Amendment and whether Trump's conduct qualifies.
The trial is expected to last around one week.