DENVER — An impeachment attempt of Democratic Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold failed on a party-line vote in a state legislative committee on Tuesday evening.
The vote to send the impeachment to the full House failed 8-3, with all eight Democratic committee members voting against, and the three Republican committee members voting in favor.
The impeachment effort was brought by State Rep. Ryan Armagost, R-Berthoud, and House Minority Leader Rose Pugliese, R-Colorado Springs. It cited six instances of malfeasance by Griswold in the effort to keep former President Trump off the primary ballot.
“For using her official position to engage in viewpoint disagreement and election interference by trying to prevent a candidate that she does not like from making it onto the Colorado ballot,” Armagost said.
“What was the true purpose of the Secretary of State using her power as the chief election officer to advocate for the removal of a candidate from the election ballot,” Pugliese said.
Fact check: Griswold did not try to keep Trump off the ballot. Six Colorado voters, including former Republican State Rep. Norma Anderson, and a liberal Washington D.C. group sued Griswold to prevent her from placing Trump on the ballot citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately determined that Trump would be eligible for the ballot. Griswold never removed Trump’s name from the ballot, Trump appeared on the ballot and the Secretary of State counted all primary votes for Trump.
The impeachment effort was less about the impeachment and more about the attention it brought.
House Republicans could show voters that they tried to impeach the Secretary of State on an issue that is controversial.
House Democrats could say that they gave it a hearing, while also giving Griswold a platform to say the same type of statements that led to the impeachment effort.
“House Republicans are trying to impeach me for saying the undeniable truth. And I want to clearly say to the Republicans on this committee, Trump is an oath breaking insurrectionist. He is a danger to our country and our Democracy,” Griswold said.
Comments like that on the news, radio and social media are what led to the impeachment attempt.
“She injected herself, with partisanship, in trying to influence the election of a federal candidate,” Armagost said.
“Ah, correct. You’re claiming malfeasance based on certain statements and rhetoric she’s made, isn’t that correct?” said State Rep. Steven Woodrow, D-Denver.
“Actions and rhetoric. Rhetoric that leads to actions and is reenforced by further rhetoric,” Armagost said.
“Actions that follow court orders and rhetoric on Twitter, isn’t that correct, sir?” Woodrow said.
“I would disagree with you there,” Armagost said.
The hearing allowed Colorado lawmakers to act more like the U.S. Congress.
Normally, committee hearings involve witnesses testifying for or against a bill and answering questions from committee members. The witnesses are rarely interrupted about the content of their speech. This, however, was not a normal hearing.
“So, do you admit, on the record, that January 6 was an insurrection? Yes or no?” Woodrow said.
“I’m not deferring anything to anything. And I’m not answering questions. I’m not on trial here. I’m not answering questions about January 6 or election deniability or anything like that,” Armagost said.
“OK, reclaiming my time. You can’t answer the question,” Woodrow said.
There was another interaction like that at the end of Woodrow’s questioning.
“So, the real impeachable offense is that she didn’t defy any court order and that her rhetoric and statements were critical of Donald Trump?” Woodrow said.
“No, and I’ll finish my comment,” Armagost said.
“Nothing further,” Woodrow interrupted.
There was a moment in the hearing where reporting from Next with Kyle Clark was used to question Armagost.
In a March 7 interview with 9NEWS anchor Kyle Clark, Armagost said the quiet part aloud.
"That can, also, hopefully help us in next election cycle,” Armagost said on March 7.
"Wait. You didn't just say you're impeaching because it will help you in the next election,” Clark said.
"No, I think this will get more people to come to vote, so that we can get more people voting for what they think is right,” Armagost said on March 7.
At the hearing on Tuesday, State Rep. Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, questioned Armagost about that exchange.
“And you said during the interview, that the purpose of this resolution is to ‘hopefully help us in the next election cycle,’ and ‘this will get more people voting, and ‘have Republicans win election this fall.’ Is that correct?” Bacon said.
“That is incorrect. That is out of context,” Armagost said.
“But you did say those words?” Bacon said.
“The words that you took out of context, I did say, yes,” Armagost said.
He went on to explain why he thought the question was unfair.
“The interview, itself, was out of context. There was a full version that was available, as well. My words were to the effect of, we need people to see what’s going on in the election process and that can get more people to come out and vote,” Armagost said.
Watch Kyle’s full interview with Armagost here on the Next YouTube channel.
“Do you think this is an appropriate use of this body’s time and the impeachment mechanism if it’s just going to rile up your base and feed your base for the next election cycle,” Bacon said.
“That is not the intent of this resolution,” Armagost said.
There was one direct question that Griswold did not answer when asked by a Democratic committee member.
“Would you have taken actions to remove [Trump] if Republicans had not brought this lawsuit?” Bacon said.
“It was always my hope that a court would take up this case,” Griswold said. “What I said right from the beginning is that I would follow any court order in the matter.”
In the hallway, 9NEWS pressed Griswold for an answer on that question.
“I had anticipated that this was going to be litigated somewhere,” Griswold said. “I would have like to see how a legal proceeding worked itself out. That’s what several Secretaries of State did. And in terms of if there wasn’t that type of legal proceeding, I think we would have to cross the bridge when we got there.”
She went on to say that the Secretary of State’s Office considered the disqualification of a candidate when former State Rep. Ron Hanks for U.S. Senate in 2022.
Hanks was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Griswold said that because Hanks did not enter the Capitol on Jan. 6, the consideration to disqualify him from the ballot, citing the 14th Amendment did not go anywhere.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Trump lawsuit stated that Secretaries of State can disqualify state candidates using the 14th Amendment, but that disqualification of federal candidates would need to be determined by Congress.
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