OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Denver police said that early Tuesday morning, a suspect broke into the Colorado Supreme Court building and opened fire on responding officers before being taken into custody.
The downtown Denver Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center was the target of a police manhunt shortly after 1 a.m. local time. According to a Denver Police Department spokesperson who spoke with local ABC news affiliate Denver 7, once inside, the officers found a suspect who then started firing at them.
According to the report, officers did not retaliate with gunfire but were successful in apprehending and arresting the unidentified suspect approximately two hours following their arrival at the scene.
“DPD and the Colorado State Patrol are treating this incident seriously, but at this time, do not believe this to be associated with previous threats to the Colorado Supreme Court Justices,” police said in a news release.
According to Denver7, the suspect’s ex-wife’s family believes Olsen had a mental breakdown and claims he is politically apolitical.
“Brandon is and has always been a wonderful, fun, loving, and charismatic guy. This is devastating, and we need some time to process,” the family said in a statement to Denver7.
An alarming break-in occurred at the Colorado Supreme Court after a man shot his way into the building, just two weeks after Donald Trump was removed from the state’s Republican primary ballot. The gunman eventually surrendered to police. @MolaReports. https://t.co/QinQx2aBw5 pic.twitter.com/NqVzft7iEq
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) January 3, 2024
Denver police ID suspect in armed break-in/arson at Colorado Supreme Court as Brandon Olsen. Officials say it’s not linked to threats against justices since Trump ruling. But whatever Olsen told police is blacked out https://t.co/xIhVaZuIWd by @ShellyBradbury and @jacobfactorCO pic.twitter.com/k77FnDnITb
— Matt Sebastian (@mattsebastian) January 2, 2024
In a 4-3 decision on December 19, the Colorado Supreme Court barred Trump from the Republican primary ballot in the state, citing an insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment and alleging that he instigated the Capitol riot that occurred on January 6.
The state’s highest court reversed a lower court’s ruling that the 14th Amendment’s prohibition on presidential candidates running for office did not apply to Trump, ruling that he could not be on the ballot due to the amendment’s provision that states anyone who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” cannot do so.
A provision in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment prohibits former officials who have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from running for re-election to public office, the New York Post noted. However, there has never been an official insurrection charge against Trump, and he has never been found guilty of such a crime.
“Donald Trump engaged in insurrection and was disqualified under the Constitution from the Colorado ballot. The Colorado Supreme Court got it right. This decision is now being appealed,” Griswold said in a separate statement. “I urge the US Supreme Court to act quickly given the upcoming presidential primary election.”
As the Colorado Republican Party appeals a court decision that ruled earlier this month that Trump is ineligible for office, the former president will still be on the 2024 primary ballot for certification this week, according to the state’s secretary of state.
“With the appeal filed, Donald Trump will be included as a candidate on Colorado’s 2024 Presidential Primary Ballot when certification occurs on January 5, 2024, unless the US Supreme Court declines to take the case or otherwise affirms the Colorado Supreme Court ruling,” Jena Griswold’s office said in a press release.
The 77-year-old former president’s disqualification has allegedly caused the Colorado Republican Party “irreparable harm,” and on Wednesday, they petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn that ruling.
“The state has interfered in the primary election by unreasonably restricting the party’s ability to select its candidates,” states the 45-page petition from the Colorado GOP and the nonprofit American Center for Law and Justice.
“As a natural and inevitable result, the state has interfered with the party’s ability to place on the general election ballot the candidate of its choice. And it has done so based on a subjective claim of insurrection the state lacks any constitutional authority to make.”
Before the January 5 deadline for the certification of candidate names by both parties for the Colorado ballot, the high court must decide on the ruling. This decision is still pending.
CNN analyst and New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman revealed that Trump is “not happy” about being associated with a “charge of insurrection,” but his camp views the ballot ban in Colorado as “a gift.”
Haberman said that Trump’s advisers see the ruling as a “gift” that will help his 2024 campaign.
In response to a question about the ruling, Habberman said: “They generally see it, Kaitlan, as a gift. I mean, Trump is not happy about any of these cases, particularly cases that tie him, to a charge of insurrection. But they see the way that they anticipate this will play out. As you know, they are going to appeal. They’re going to ask the Supreme Court to take it up. The Supreme Court doesn’t have to. If they don’t, it’s affirming the decision, which I think becomes complicated, although they could always affirm it.”
“They feel pretty good about their chances that it will get overturned. And either way, they see this as something that they can use, to argue that he is being victimized. It’s easy, for voters, to understand, Kaitlan, which is, effort to throw someone off the ballot. Some of these legal cases, the criminal cases that he’s facing are more complicated,” Haberman added.
