CHEYENNE — A Laramie lawyer has sued Secretary of State Chuck Gray, attempting to bar former President Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., from appearing on future ballots in the state.
The complaint, filed earlier this month, is one of many attempts in U.S. courts to disqualify the former president from ballot access.
Similar lawsuits exist in Michigan, Colorado, Minnesota and New Jersey, the Missouri Independent reported.
In a news release sent out Tuesday, Gray spoke out against the lawsuit. He said it was weaponizing the U.S. Constitution to interfere with elections.
“The attempt to remove Donald Trump and Cynthia Lummis from the ballot is outrageously wrong and repugnant to our electoral process,” Gray said in the release. “I am preparing a vigorous defense to stop these blatant, radical attempts to interfere with Wyoming’s elections. The weaponization of the Fourteenth Amendment to remove political opponents from the ballot undermines the sanctity of the Constitution. We are preparing to file a motion to dismiss, to block this attempt at election interference.”
Gray’s statement came the same day that a Michigan judge ruled that Trump could remain on the state’s primary ballot, according to the Associated Press, noting that a similar case is set to conclude this week in Colorado. Trump was allowed ballot access for primary elections in Minnesota, which the state’s Supreme Court said was not bound by the same constitutional requirement as general elections.
The Wyoming lawsuit, a civil case filed in Albany County District Court on Nov. 1, was made by Tim Newcomb, who cited more than 250 news articles and statements about Trump.
This evidence was intended to build a case that the former president violated his oath through conspiring with other nations, his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and refusing to concede for a period of time after the 2020 presidential election.
By extension, Newcomb cited statements in support of the former president by Lummis, arguing that she also betrayed her oath by refusing to certify Pennsylvania’s 2020 election results in January 2021.
In his complaint, Newcomb asked the court to “preclude the names of Mr. Trump and Ms. Lummis from appearing on Wyoming ballots.”
Newcomb invoked the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, quoting a part that said “No person shall ... hold any office ... having previously taken an oath ... to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have ... given aid or comfort to the enemies.”
He also quoted the indictment of Trump in United States of America v. Donald J. Trump.
“Despite having lost, (Trump) was determined to remain in power,” an excerpt of the indictment read. “So for more than two months following Election Day on November 3, 2020, the Defendant spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won. These claims were false, and the Defendant knew that they were false.”
Newcomb’s evidence in his complaint continued by referencing casualties associated with the Capitol riot, insinuating that the former president had a role in the deaths of five people, including a law enforcement officer, by inciting the Jan. 6 incident.
He continued by referencing several alleged scandals and relationships the former president had with powerful media, governmental and financial figures like tech billionaire Peter Thiel, financier George Soros, X (formerly Twitter) CEO Elon Musk and several other world leaders.
Some of the articles mentioned by Newcomb accused Trump of a conspiracy with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with one quoted in the complaint saying Trump “revealed classified secrets to Putin.”
The complaint also cited articles tying Trump to a peace deal with the Taliban, claiming it precipitated the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.
After citing a lengthy series of articles against the former president, Newcomb wrote that Lummis refused to count electoral votes from Pennsylvania “because it determined the next president-elect of the United States of America.”
He also cited an article that said the Wyoming senator encouraged Trump not to concede, even after vote counts weighed against him.
“Their oaths meant nothing to the Constitution or their gods,” he wrote in the argument portion of his complaint. “Mr. Trump disqualified himself from appearing on Wyoming’s ballot when he refused to defend the Constitution’s transfer of presidential power ... adhering to its enemies.
“Ms. Lummis disqualified herself from appearing on Wyoming’s ballot when she refused to (add) Pennsylvania’s electoral ballots to the electoral count ... adhering to its enemies.”
The case was assigned to Albany County District Judge Misha Westby and, as of Tuesday, no hearings have been scheduled in the case.
Newcomb did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday afternoon from the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.
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