N.H. attorney general 'carefully reviewing' arguments that could keep Trump off state's ballot

The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office is “carefully reviewing the legal issues involved” in a long-shot effort by some Republicans in the state to keep former President Donald Trump off the ballot in 2024, the office announced on Tuesday.

Bryant “Corky” Messner — an attorney and prominent Republican who ran on Trump’s endorsement as the state’s 2020 U.S. Senate nominee — has publicly questioned Trump’s eligibility to run for president, citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The section disqualifies those who’ve taken an oath to support the Constitution from holding office again if they’ve “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the United States “or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

But other Republicans in the state have pushed back.

“I don’t think the effort to limit the options for our primary voters has any legs whatsoever,” Chris Ager, chair of the state Republican Party, told POLITICO.

Now, the state’s top legal and election officials are weighing in.

“Both the Secretary of State’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office are aware of public discourse regarding the potential applicability of Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution to the upcoming presidential election cycle,” New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella and Secretary of State David Scanlan said in a joint statement on Tuesday, calling out “misinformation” implying that Scanlan’s office had already taken a position on the issue.

The statement comes after the Secretary of State’s Office was bombarded with calls on Monday, according to NBC News, after conservative talk show host Charlie Kirk told listeners that New Hampshire was trying to block Trump from the ballot.

“Neither the Secretary of State’s Office nor the Attorney General’s Office has taken any position regarding the potential applicability of Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution to the upcoming presidential election cycle,” the statement says.