DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado House Republicans introduced a resolution on Thursday that calls for the impeachment of Secretary of State Jena Griswold.

The resolution stems from the Anderson v. Griswold case recently heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices ruled on March 4 that former President Donald Trump could appear on the Colorado ballot for the 2024 primaries and general election. The ruling overturned a state supreme court ruling that said otherwise.

The case was brought by six Republican and unaffiliated voters in Colorado in hopes of keeping Trump off of Colorado’s ballots. The contention was that Trump engaged in insurrection, and under the 14th Amendment, Section 3, he would be ineligible to run for the presidency.

Now a month after the Supreme Court ruling, Colorado House GOP members are seeking to impeach Griswold for agreeing with the Colorado Supreme Court that Trump engaged in insurrection against the United States. The resolution asserts that her past statements about Trump engaging in an insurrection are grounds for impeachment.

Jena Griswold responds

Griswold painted the resolution as a political game.

“The Colorado Republican Party continues to focus on conspiracies and political games. I will not be intimidated by this baseless proceeding. While Republican House Legislators waste taxpayer dollars to score cheap political points, I’ll be doing my job of ensuring every Colorado voter – Republican, Democratic, and Unaffiliated alike – can make their voices heard in free and fair elections,” Griswold said in a statement.

She said the resolution is “factually incorrect.”

“Donald Trump has been found by three courts to have engaged in insurrection. He was on the Colorado Republican Presidential Primary ballot,” Griswold’s release stated.

Those three courts were the Colorado Supreme Court, the Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois and Maine’s Superior Court.

GOP cites reason for impeachment effort

According to the impeachment resolution, there are six articles on which the Colorado House Republicans hope to impeach Griswold. The articles all cite malfeasance in office for the following reasons:

• For denying Trump the right to due process by making statements about his guilt for engaging in an insurrection “when he has not, in any court of law, been found guilty of engaging in the alleged insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.”
• For denying a free and open election by denying Coloradans the right to vote for the choice of president
• For “playing partisan politics in her office,” which the article says “should remain neutral and unbiased”
• For violation of “the U.S. Constitution, the Colorado Constitution, her oath of office, the Colorado Revised Statutes and public policy by acting contrary to the public interest.”
• For “demonstrating her unfitness for office by engaging in misconduct that will disrupt the 2024 Republican primary election in Colorado.”
• For “abusing the public’s trust and prejudicing the public’s confidence in the Colorado Secretary of State’s office and the state’s elections systems” by using official powers to “subvert the lawful operation” of her office to “obstruct the fair and impartial administration of justice.”

The resolution will be heard in the House Judiciary Committee on April 9. The hearing’s testimony will be limited to four witnesses selected by the resolution sponsors, House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese and Rep. Ryan Armagost, and four witnesses selected by the chair in consultation with the secretary of state. Griswold will be allowed to testify for 10 minutes and respond to committee members’ questions.

House Speaker McCluskie responds

Colorado House Democrats fired back in a statement from House Speaker Julie McCluskie, who represents Colorado’s 13th District, which includes portions of Chaffee, Grand, Jackson, Lake, Park and Summit counties.

“Hearing this resolution in the Judiciary committee will limit the time wasted on this topic, while respecting that it is a top priority for House Republicans to have it introduced and openly debated,” McCluskie’s statement said.

“In an age when misinformation and conspiracy theories attack the integrity of our elections, we believe a public hearing to set the record straight on this issue is in the best interest of our democracy. This resolution, by the sponsor’s own admission, is a political stunt to gin up MAGA support for House Republicans. It’s clear that the minority’s primary complaint is that the Secretary of State shares the view of the Colorado Supreme Court that Donald Trump engaged in insurrection against the United States. Instead of protecting our democracy, Republicans are defending Trump,” McCluskie concluded.

The House Democrats also noted in their response that in 2022, two-thirds of House Republicans voted to thank former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters — a prominent figure of the election conspiracy movement who is also facing a criminal trial — and the Jan. 6 rioters at the U.S. Capitol. The measure also disputed that President Joe Biden was duly elected.