Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griwold (D) accused Donald Trump and his fellow Republican of fomenting political violence in America over the course of his legal battles via Mediaite.
It has been noted that Griswold joined CNN’s John Berman on Tuesday to discuss the news that a suspect forced his way into the Colorado Supreme Court building in Denver this morning and allegedly exchanged fire with the police before his voluntarily surrendering.
The incident comes amid recent threats towards the judicial system in Colorado after the state’s Supreme Court declared Trump ineligible for the presidency under the 14th Amendment.
There is no reporting yet to connect the Supreme Court intrusion to the Trump ruling, and as Berman acknowledged that fact, Griswold compounded it by telling him “At this point, we are under the impression that it is unrelated [to the ruling], but we are going to continue to keep an eye on it.”
Even so, Berman and Griswold remained focused on the threats that have emerged since the ruling, including the ones Griswolf has received against herself.
“It is an atmosphere of political violence that is unfortunately not new. It has been with us since 2020 and 2021, being used to try and intimidate the secretaries of state and election workers,” Griswold said. “But I won’t be intimidated. We’re gonna still have great elections in the state of Colorado.”
“What is the cause of this threat of violence, do you think?” Berman asked. “Who is to blame?”
Her answer:
“I would say Donald Trump, and Republicans in Congress and high-ranking Republicans across the nation who have not stood up to condemn the rhetoric of violence. All of the lies, all of the disinformation are used as justification to suppress the vote across the nation. The lies have incited security breaches including election officials breaching their own equipment, and have really incited a wave of political threats to election workers. And the intended result is happening.
A lot of the election workers have said they will step down, or have stepped down, including Colorado seeing a turnover rate of one-third of the elected county clerks, the people who run the elections at the county level since 2020. So, Donald Trump is — His rhetoric is dangerous, and of course, I would say that there was not a mistake, or he knew what he was doing, when he posted on social media the biography of the Maine secretary of state, and that led to intimidation and threats against her.
Griswold was referring to how Trump re-truthed Libs of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik going after Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. Bellows has said that she was targeted for “swatting” after she also had Trump removed from Maine’s 2024 primary ballot.
