Flailing Republican humiliated after CNN anchor grills him on threat to ban Biden as Trump revenge

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft struggled to maintain his countenance during a recent CNN interview when asked to elaborate on his recent threat to remove President Joe Biden from his state’s primary ballot if Donald Trump continues to be ousted in other states.

The former president, who has thus far been disqualified from the 2024 GOP primary ballot in Colorado and Maine for his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the insurrection that followed, is reportedly concerned that the Supreme Court may rule against him in both cases.

On Friday, not long after the Supreme Court stated that it would look into the Colorado ruling, Ashcroft took to X/Twitter. “What has happened in Colorado & Maine is disgraceful & undermines our republic,” he tweeted. “While I expect the Supreme Court to overturn this, if not, Secretaries of State will step in & ensure the new legal standard for @realDonaldTrump applies equally to @JoeBiden!”

Ashcroft later told NBC that his post was meant to “remind people of how severe this is” and that “chaos” will follow if the Supreme Court does not reverse Colorado’s decision. He also stated that Biden has “let an invasion unstopped into our country from the border,” seemingly conflating Biden’s immigration policies with the severity of Jan 6.

CNN anchor Boris Sanchez pressed the Missouri official to qualify his words during a sit-down, first observing that “the secretary of state lacks authority to assess qualifications of a candidate, to determine whether to place a candidate’s name on a primary ballot.”

Ashcroft replied that Sanchez was “not an attorney,” stating that he would only pursue his plan if Colorado’s ruling was upheld, before Sanchez again cited Missouri constitutional law. 

“And I continue to try to answer your questions, and you continue to try to tell me stuff that just isn’t true,” Ashcroft said.

“I’m wondering, though, what would then be your justification for removing Joe Biden from the ballot in Missouri?” Sanchez asked. “Has he engaged in your mind in some kind of insurrection?”

Ashcroft replied by noting that  “there have been allegations that he’s engaged in insurrection,” which Sanchez swiftly followed by asking for examples.

A seemingly floundering Ashcroft claimed Sanchez was “scared of the truth,” which the CNN host Sanchez rejected.

“Oh, I’m not terrified of the truth at all. It seems like you might be. Let’s hear what you have to say,” Sanchez retorted. “What did Joe Biden do in your mind that equates to insurrection? What allegations are you talking about?”

Ashcroft ultimately used vague references to claims made by Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who have both previously suggested that Biden could face ballot removal in their states over his handling of immigration. 

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

“They made allegations and all it took for the president, for former President Trump to be taken off the ballot in Colorado and in Maine were allegations,” Ashcroft alleged. “We should not be a country that removes people from the ballot based on allegations. I think you can agree with that.”

After Sanchez attempted to delineate the galling differences between actions taken at the southern border and a full-fledged insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Ashcroft accused him of supporting his “guy,” Biden. 

"My guy, Joe Biden is not my guy,” Sanchez hit back. “You don’t know who my guy is. The point is, sir, the point is that it’s not clear whether the 14th Amendment is self-executing or not. In other words, it doesn’t matter to a court at that point whether there was a conviction of Donald Trump for insurrection or not. That is a debate for the Supreme Court to have.”