Legal Analyst Says Donald Trump Rejected Voters' 'Expressed Wills'

Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner told Newsweek that Donald Trump "rejected the voters' expressed wills" by not accepting the 2020 election results and admitting defeat.

The veteran attorney and staunch critic of the former president told Newsweek in a phone interview on Wednesday that the former president "and company" are disregarding the voters' opinions by continuously repeating baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

"I would say I laugh but there's nothing funny about the fact that people say, 'Oh, put it in the hands of the voters,'" Kirschner told Newsweek . "Well, we did that in 2020, and Trump and company rejected the voters' expressed wills, so we can't very well continue to put it in the hands of the voters. It didn't work last time. What's to say it's going to work next time?"

Trump, frontrunner in the polls for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, was recently barred from appearing on Republican primary ballots in Colorado following a 4-3 ruling from the state's Supreme Court.

The justices ruled in favor of petitioners who argued that the Make America Great Again leader's actions surrounding the January 6, 2021, siege on the U.S. Capitol made him ineligible to hold elected office based on a Civil War-era clause in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The Colorado ballot ruling is now expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and given the court's conservative majority, it could be overturned.

Trump has denied all wrongdoing and has said repeatedly that the lawsuits and criminal charges against him are part of a political "witch hunt" against him as he campaigns for reelection to the White House. Newsweek reached out via email on Wednesday to Trump's representatives for comment.

Kirschner, a legal analyst for MSNBC, discussed the former president's various legal woes with a Newsweek on Wednesday. The former assistant U.S. attorney said he thinks that the U.S. Supreme Court will agree to hear Trump's appeal on the Colorado ballot ruling.

The majority in the Colorado Supreme Court decision highlighted why they believed Trump participated in an insurrection and found him ineligible.

"President Trump did not merely incite the insurrection," the unsigned opinion from the majority said. "Even when the siege on the Capitol was fully underway, he continued to support it by repeatedly demanding that Vice President [ Mike] Pence refuse to perform his constitutional duty and by calling Senators to persuade them to stop the counting of electoral votes. These actions constituted overt, voluntary, and direct participation in the insurrection."

Trump is also facing federal charges over his alleged involvement leading up to and during the January 6 riot. The Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted him in August on four counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.

Trump appealed the election fraud case to the Washington D.C. Court of Appeals, saying he has presidential immunity. Federal prosecutor Jack Smith, who is leading the DOJ case against Trump, is seeking a ruling from the Supreme Court to weigh in on the immunity issue.

Kirschner said he believes the nation's high court will ultimately deny Trump's immunity claim, saying that if the Supreme Court planned to grant the former president immunity and dismiss the case, "they probably would have wanted to do that immediately."

"The only solution for our democracy is the rule of law asserting itself and holding accountable those folks who committed crimes in furtherance of trying to retain power unlawfully and unconstitutionally," Kirschner said to Newsweek.