Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. blasted the California lieutenant governor for calling on the state’s secretary of state to “explore legal options” to remove former President Trump from the ballot.
Kennedy blasted Golden State Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis in a tweet after her Wednesday orders to Secretary of State Shirley Weber to look into “legal options” to take Trump off the ballot.
“Someone needs to explain to Lt. Governor Kounalakis that in democracy, we choose candidates by VOTING,” Kennedy wrote. “Not by legal maneuvers to get them off the ballot.”
CALIFORNIA LT. GOV CALLS FOR STATE TO ‘EXPLORE EVERY LEGAL OPTION’ TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM ’24 BALLOT
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. blasted the California lieutenant governor for calling on the state’s secretary of state to “explore legal options” to remove former President Trump from the ballot. (Hans Gutknecht/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)
“Kounalakis has close ties to Gavin Newsom (of course), Kamala Harris, and Nancy Pelosi. She isn’t just an individual with an agenda,” he continued. “She is deep in the Democratic party establishment.”
Kennedy wrote that in “so-called banana republics and authoritarian countries, voters can only choose from a slate of officially approved candidates” and warned it’s “starting to look like that here too.”
“We can restore real democracy,” Kennedy said. “Electing me President is one step, but what it will take is a full mobilization of an engaged citizenry.”
“Democracy doesn’t come when the elites who have usurped it finally relent,” he added.
Fox News Digital reached out to Kounalakis’ office for comment.
A day after the Colorado Supreme Court disqualified Trump from appearing on the state’s ballots in 2024, Kounalakis asked California’s secretary of state to “explore every legal option” to do the same.
Kounalakis sent a letter to Weber dated Wednesday, Dec. 20, and referencing Colorado’s recent ruling, which stated Trump was ineligible to appear on the state’s ballot as a presidential candidate because of his role in “inciting an insurrection” at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“This decision is about honoring the rule of law in our country and protecting the fundamental pillars of our democracy,” Kounalakis, who launched a campaign to run for California governor in 2026, wrote. “Specifically, the Colorado Supreme Court held in Anderson v. Griswold (2023 CO 63) that Trump’s insurrection disqualifies him under section three of the Fourteenth Amendment to stand for presidential re-election. Because the candidate is ineligible, the court ruled, it would be a ‘wrongful act’ for the Colorado Secretary of State to list him as a candidate on that state’s presidential primary ballot.”
Lt. Gov. Kounalakis asked California’s secretary of state to “explore every legal option” to keep Trump off the ballot in 2024. (Getty)
The gubernatorial candidate told the secretary of state that California “must stand on the right side of history,” and is “obligated to determine” if the former president is ineligible to be on the ballot for the same reasons he was deemed ineligible in Colorado.
Kounalakis said Colorado’s decision could be the basis for California’s decision.
“The constitution is clear: you must be 35 years old and not be an insurrectionist,” Kounalakis wrote, though in an earlier version of the letter that hit social media, she wrote, “you must be 40 years old…”
She also said this is not a matter of political gamesmanship, but instead is a “dire matter that puts at stake the sanctity of our constitution and our democracy.”
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Colorado’s disqualification was made under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and tied to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
The 4-3 ruling is stayed until Jan. 4 because of likely appeals. Three justices on the Colorado Supreme Court dissented.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed reporting.