Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed suit against the State of New York for violating Missourians’ First Amendment right to hear from a presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential election.
Bailey’s lawsuit asserts that New York’s ‘lawfare’ prosecution, gag order, and sentencing of President Trump has undermined his ability to campaign for president sabotaging Missourians’ability to hear from him and cast a fully informed vote for a presidential candidate mere months before the election.
"Radical progressives in New York are trying to rig the 2024 election. We have to stand up and fight back," Bailey told Fox News Digital.
Missouri is the first state to push back on the ‘lawfare’ being used against former President Trump to protect the rights of their citizens to fully participate in the upcoming presidential election. Missouri says that part of being able to participate in any election is to hear from, and even see, all of the candidates in a free and unfettered way.
Attorney General Bailey filed a preliminary injunction motion, asking the Supreme Court to immediately halt any further action in the New York case until after the American people have had their say at the ballot box.
“Right now, Missouri has a huge problem with New York. Instead of letting presidential candidates campaign on their own merits, radical progressives in New York are trying to rig the 2024 election by waging a direct attack on our democratic process,” said Bailey.
Bailey added, “I will not sit idly by while Soros-backed prosecutors hold Missouri voters hostage in this presidential election. I am filing suit to ensure every Missourian can exercise their right to hear from and vote for their preferred presidential candidate.”
He called the ‘lawfare’ poisonous to American democracy and said the American people should be able to participate in a presidential election free from New York's interference.
The lawsuit comes just one month after New York obtained a controversial conviction against President Trump, and alleges three specific violations:
- Interference with the Presidential Election in other States
- Violation of Purcell (a federal case prohibiting courts from sowing voter confusion or changing election rules in the months leading up to an election)
- Violation of the First Amendment rights of voters in other states.
The lawsuit also alleges that Judge Merchan violated state judicial ethics rules by donating to the Biden campaign. Further, Judge Merchan refused to recuse himself from the case despite donating to Trump’s general election opponent and having a close family member who stood to gain financially from a conviction. He later imposed a gag order on President Trump when he pointed these facts out to the public.
Trump’s lawyers moved to overturn his criminal conviction in the Manhattan case after the US Supreme Court ruled a former president has substantial immunity for official acts committed while in office. He also requested to delay his sentencing, scheduled for July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention.
Bragg said Trump's request to overturn the verdict was without merit, but he did not oppose the request to delay sentencing.