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DENVER (KDVR) — A resolution to impeach Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold failed 8-3 along party lines in committee on Tuesday.
House Republicans that brought forward the impeachment resolution argued Griswold should be impeached for her actions and rhetoric. Griswold maintained she did her job while fighting for democracy.
A fair amount of the hearing testimony focused on Jan. 6. Republicans bringing the resolution opened the hearing by explaining their reason for doing so.
They noted Griswold’s actions in representing Colorado in the U.S. Supreme Court case asking if former President Donald Trump should be removed from Colorado’s ballot because of his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese and state Rep. Ryan Armagost maintained only Congress has the right to determine if Trump should be barred from the ballot because of participating in an insurrection.
“That is why we are here today. It’s not a political stunt. This is to really flesh out whether this behavior is of a secretary of state who is supposed to be unbiased, who is supposed to be neutral in elections, who is the chief elections officer,” Pugliese said before the committee. “Whether there is some standard we are going to hold her to when she interferes in an election the way she did. I personally feel that it is incredibly improper.”
The Republican sponsors also said Griswold is partisan and does not instill fairness toward candidates who may think differently from her, although they did not provide any specific candidate examples. They also noted her rhetoric online, citing a post on X when she called Trump an insurrectionist.
Griswold called the impeachment effort baseless. She told panelists she was doing her job in representing Colorado in the case that made it to the nation’s highest court.
“To be very clear, when the minority leader and Representative Armagost got up here, they started to talk about a pattern against candidates without providing any evidence,” Griswold said. “We are here to talk about Donald Trump. The speech that is allegedly wrongdoing is about me saying the truth: that Donald Trump engaged in insurrection.”
Republicans and Democrats each chose a panel of witnesses to testify before the committee. Democrats chose Harry Dunn, an officer who was hurt during the attack.
Before voting, Democrats on the committee issued a strong rebuke for the impeachment effort, saying the hearing on the resolution was a waste of time.
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