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WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden faces one of the most critical moments of his political career on Thursday, with a State of the Union speech aimed at convincing sceptical voters the 81-year-old is fit to beat Donald Trump in November’s election.

The annual address to a joint session of Congress is often a largely ceremonial affair, but in 2024 the stakes are huge as Democrat Biden seeks to overcome doubts about his age, the economy and wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

Crucially, the millions of Americans tuning in to the primetime spectacle will be also be watching not just what the oldest president in US history says but how he says it, with Republican Trump, 77, continually mocking Biden’s health and mental acuity — despite his own repeated verbal slips.

Set for 9:00 pm (1:00 GMT Friday) and expected to last round an hour, the speech at the US Capitol is possibly Biden’s best chance before November to trumpet his achievements and set out what he would do in a second term.

Biden said on the eve of the address that he had done “more over three years than most presidents have in eight”, and he is prepared to announce plans for tax cuts for working families and cheaper prescription drugs.

“You hired me to get the job done, build an economy that works for working people, and make life better for families,” Biden wrote on X. “I’ll update you on our progress and lay out the path ahead.”

In line with tradition, First Lady Jill Biden will host a number of guests chosen to highlight the White House’s priorities.

This year they include Texan woman forced to leave the state for an abortion, auto workers leader Shawn Fain, whose union recently backed Biden, and the prime minister of Sweden, which becomes a NATO member on Thursday.

Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska and the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were both invited but were unable to attend, the White House said.

‘Stumbling’ 

Trump and Biden nailed down a repeat of the 2020 election with their sweeping wins in this week’s “Super Tuesday” primaries — but it is a rematch that polls show many US voters do not actually want.

Biden, who trails Trump in recent polls, is set to paint the election as an existential clash, warning that US democracy and its global standing would be at risk if the Republican makes a sensational comeback to the White House.

Found liable for sexual assault and business fraud, and facing multiple criminal indictments ‚ including for trying to overturn his election loss four years ago — Trump has again appeared to defy the laws of political gravity thanks to his base of working-class, white voters.

For three days over the weekend, Biden huddled with aides at the Camp David retreat crafting the speech, and he plans to “continue to fine tune” it on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Last year Biden successfully parried heckling by hardline Trump allies during his State of the Union speech and he is ready again this time around, the White House added.

But that is not the only risk. Observers will also be on the lookout for signs of frailty after Biden suffered a series of trips and verbal slips in recent years.

“For every president, whether or not Biden, stumbling in some way, not necessarily physically, but over their words, that can often have an impact overshadowing what the president is saying,” Sarada Peri, a former speechwriter for Barack Obama, told AFP.

The world will also be watching as wars rage in Gaza and Ukraine.

Biden is expected to urge Republicans in Congress to stop blocking vital aid for Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s brutal invasion, along with funding for the US-Mexico border and Israel’s war against Hamas.

WASHINGTON — Sweden on Thursday became the 32nd member of NATO in the shadow of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, turning the page on two centuries of non-alignment and capping two years of torturous diplomacy.

Days after Hungary followed key holdout Turkey and became the last NATO member to sign off, Sweden ceremonially handed over accession documents to the United States, the leading force of the transatlantic alliance that provides joint security for all.

"It is a major step but, at the same time, a very natural step," Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said at the State Department.

The accession "is a victory for freedom today. Sweden has made a free, democratic, sovereign and united choice to join NATO", he said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that few would have expected Sweden as well as Finland to join NATO before Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

There is "no clearer example than today of the strategic debacle that Putin's invasion of Ukraine has become for Russia", Blinken said.

Sweden has not been involved in a war, including World War II, since the Napoleonic conflicts of the early 19th century.

Sweden and Finland, while militarily intertwined with the United States and both members of the European Union, had historically steered clear of officially joining NATO, formed in the Cold War to unite against the Soviet Union.

Finland and Sweden launched a joint bid shortly after the invasion of Ukraine, which itself had unsuccessfully sought to join NATO — an alliance that under Article 5, considers an attack on one member an attack on all.

Finland successfully joined in April 2023, but Sweden’s membership was stalled by Turkey.

“Good things come to those who wait,” Blinken said as he received the documents from Sweden. “Some doubted we’d get here; we never did.”

 ‘Historic day’ 

The Swedish prime minister is set later Thursday to attend the annual State of the Union address by President Joe Biden, who has been struggling to persuade the rival Republican Party to approve new aid to Ukraine.

Russia has vowed “countermeasures” over Sweden’s entry into NATO, especially if the alliance’s troops and assets deploy in the country.

Sweden’s blue and golden-yellow flag is expected to be hoisted on Monday at the Brussels headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance.

“This is a historic day. Sweden will now take its rightful place at NATO’s table, with an equal say in shaping NATO policies and decisions,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.

“After over 200 years of non-alignment Sweden now enjoys the protection granted under Article 5, the ultimate guarantee of allies’ freedom and security,” he said.

Before agreeing to ratify membership, Turkey used its leverage to press Sweden, known for its liberal asylum policies, to crack down on Kurdish militants who have campaigned against Ankara.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan later demanded action after protesters, enjoying Swedish laws on free speech, desecrated Islam’s holy book the Koran.

In a clear if unstated sweetener, the United States dangled the prospect of F-16 warplanes to Turkey, which has faced the wrath of US sanctions over a major military purchase from Russia.

The Biden administration in January approved $23 billion in F-16 warplanes to Turkey swiftly after it ratified Sweden’s membership.

The United States simultaneously pushed ahead with $8.6 billion in more advanced F-35 jets for Greece, a fellow NATO member that has a historic rivalry and frequent tensions with Turkey.

Even with Turkey’s blessing, Sweden faced another obstacle as it needed approval of a last country — Hungary, whose nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orban, has often thumbed his nose at Western allies.

The Hungarian parliament ratified Sweden’s membership on February 26. But in one last hiccup, Hungary could not formally sign the accession document due to a brief absence in the mostly ceremonial post of president, after an Orban ally resigned in a scandal over pardoning a convicted child abuser’s accomplice.

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump marched towards a White House rematch with President Joe Biden in November as his final Republican rival Nikki Haley was reportedly set to drop out Wednesday after a heavy defeat in the “Super Tuesday” primaries.

Haley, 52, the former US ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, was about to suspend her campaign, the Wall Street Journal and CNN reported. She was due to speak in Charleston, South Carolina, at 10:00am (15:00 GMT).

Former president Trump swept 14 out of 15 states up for grabs on the biggest day of the 2024 race so far, with Haley denying him only in the northeastern state of Vermont as he covets a second term in the Oval Office.

Incumbent Biden also swept the Democratic “Super Tuesday” primaries, although he was effectively uncontested, and the 81-year-old will now turn his attention to his crucial State of the Union speech on Thursday.

Eyeing a historic comeback to the US presidency, Trump told cheering supporters at his Mar-a-Lago beach club in Florida that they had witnessed “an amazing night and an amazing day”.

“They call it ‘Super Tuesday’ for a reason,” said Trump, 77.

“This is a big one. They tell me, the pundits and otherwise, that there has never been one like this, never been anything so conclusive.”

This year’s Super Tuesday was sapped of much of its suspense as Biden and Trump had effectively secured their parties’ nominations before a ballot was cast Tuesday.

Haley, a former South Carolina governor, has failed to throw significant obstacles in Trump’s path to the nomination since finishing a distant third in the opening contest in Iowa in January.

Impeached twice, beaten by seven million votes in 2020 and facing 91 felony charges in four trials, Trump has a profile unlike any US presidential election candidate in history.

Yet his appeal among working-class, rural and white voters, particularly on issues like immigration and the economy, has propelled him toward the nomination in one of the most lopsided primary seasons ever seen.

Haley — a favourite of affluent, suburban voters and university graduates — was set to collect only a handful of the delegates needed to secure the nomination.

Biden v. Trump, again? 

“I expect Nikki Haley to finish and drop out. There is no pathway after tonight for her to get the nomination,” Kenny Nail, a grassroots Republican activist, told AFP at Trump’s Florida watch party.

Trump’s victories included Maine, one of three states that had sought to keep him off the ballot over his push to overturn the 2020 election and the assault on the US Capitol.

The Supreme Court rejected the expulsion effort Monday, clearing the way for Trump’s participation in every state.

The states up for grabs Tuesday offered 70 per cent of the delegates Republicans need to be named the party’s candidate at the summer convention.

Trump was not able mathematically to close out the contest but he expects to be anointed by March 19 at the latest, according to his campaign.

Haley, who set low expectations ahead of Super Tuesday, had previously argued she is more likely than Trump to beat Biden in November and could forge on.

Biden was on the ballot in the Democratic primaries, but he faced little threat from two outsider challengers, making his renomination a formality.

The president raced to clear wins — minus a loss in tiny Pacific Ocean territory American Samoa — and warned Trump was “determined to destroy” US democracy.

Trump will “do or say anything to put himself in power”, Biden said in a campaign statement.

The only real challenge to Biden came from signs of a protest vote over his support for Israel’s offensive on Gaza, with some voters filling out ballots saying “uncommitted” in Minnesota and other states.

But Biden faces an uphill battle in November with several recent polls giving Trump a narrow lead, with voters concerned in particular about the president’s age, even though Trump is just four years younger.

Stephanie Perini-Hegarty voted for Biden in Quincy, Massachusetts.

“I think we need a leader who is not involved in any corruption, and who is going to look out for the best interests of the people,” the 55-year-old told AFP.

CARACAS — Venezuela will go to the polls on July 28 to choose a president, the electoral authority said on Tuesday, with incumbent Nicolas Maduro widely expected to stand and his main challenger precluded from running.

The date was chosen by the ruling-party aligned National Electoral Council (CNE), after Maduro’s government and the opposition agreed in Barbados last year to hold a free and fair vote in 2024 with international observers present.

That deal saw the United States ease sanctions against the oil-rich South American country, allowing US-based Chevron to resume limited crude extraction and leading to a prisoner swap.

The agreement required that opposition candidates be allowed to appeal court rulings disqualifying them from holding office.

Since then, however, the supreme court loyal to Maduro upheld a 15-year ban on opposition primary winner Maria Corina Machado.

Judges ruled in January that Machado had been “involved... in the corruption plot orchestrated” by former opposition leader Juan Guaido, now in exile.

The “plot”, they said, was responsible for “criminal” sanctions against Venezuela.

The judges also confirmed the ineligibility of a possible opposition stand-in — two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles.

After the ruling, Machado accused Maduro of seeking “fraudulent elections” and the United States announced it would reimpose some sanctions.

Since then, senior government official Diosdado Cabello has said elections would be held “without the presence” of the United States or the Organisation of American States — contrary to the provisions of the Barbados deal.

‘Mortally wounded’ 

CNE President Elvis Amoroso, himself under US and European Union sanctions for using his influence against political opponents, said Tuesday the July 28 had been unanimously chosen from among 27 possible dates proposed by the government-aligned parliament.

“The CNE has spoken,” Maduro said later at a public event in Caracas broadcast on state TV.

“We are going to presidential elections and I am sure that the people will once again... win a great victory,” he added.

Amoroso said presidential candidates will be able to register between March 21 and 25.

This meant “they are giving the opposition 20 days to decide” on a possible alternative to Machado, Luis Vicente Leon of polling company Datanalisis told AFP.

Amoroso said the electoral campaign will officially open on July 4, though Maduro appears to have started already, with official trips to far-flung areas of the country that have until now been rare.

Machado, too, has been addressing supporters around Venezuela.

Last month, Maduro vowed that the “people in power” would “win one way or another”.

He was addressing a rally marking the 32nd anniversary of a failed coup led by then unknown paratrooper Hugo Chavez, who as president in later years anointed Maduro as his successor.

The vote will take place on the birthday of Chavez, still hailed by many Venezuelans as a revolutionary hero, and whose popularity Maduro has often used in a bid to endear himself to long-suffering voters in a country in dire economic straits.

The election date was announced on the 11th anniversary of Chavez’ death.

In office since 2013, Maduro has not said he will seek a third six-year term, but is widely expected to do so.

In January, the controversial leader said the Barbados agreement was “mortally wounded” after government authorities claimed to have foiled numerous US-backed plots to assassinate him.

The people have chosen 

After 2018 elections that saw Maduro inaugurated for a second successive term despite widespread fraud claims, the United States and most of the international community recognised Guaido as Venesuela’s legitimate president.

However, years of sanctions and other pressure failed to dislodge Maduro, who enjoys support from a political patronage system, the military and Cuba, Russia and China.

From the United States, Guaido wrote on X Tuesday that “all of Venezuela will support our candidate” Machado, who won overwhelming support in a primary vote last October.

Machado insisted in December that “they cannot hold elections without me”.

“Nicolas Maduro will not choose the candidate of the people, because the people have already chosen their candidate, period,” she told supporters.

Other candidates not allied to the opposition and labelled as government collaborators, have announced their intention to take part in the election in a move analysts say is meant to divide the anti-Maduro vote.

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump marched Wednesday towards a bitter rematch against President Joe Biden in November as his final Republican rival Nikki Haley thew in the towel after a thumping defeat in the "Super Tuesday" primaries.

Pointedly declining to endorse the man she has portrayed as chaotic and mentally incompetent, former UN ambassador Haley said Trump would have to earn the support of moderates who backed her longshot campaign.

Her withdrawal leaves America facing a battle for the White House between two elderly men that many voters say they don't want, with Trump brushing aside multiple criminal indictments and the scandal over his attempt to overthrow the 2020 election in his pursuit of a comeback.

"We must turn away from the darkness of hatred and division," the 52-year-old Haley said in Charleston in her home state of South Carolina.

About Trump, she said only that "I wish him well" as he seeks a return to the world's most powerful office.

She also lamented the US "retreat" on world issues including Ukraine, as Trump and his hard-right Republican allies block aid for Kyiv's fight against the Russian invasion.

Biden meanwhile swept his Democratic "Super Tuesday" primaries but he must now gear up for Thursday's State of the Union address, a defining moment as the unpopular 81-year-old seeks to allay voter concerns over his age, the economy and the war in Gaza.

Both men swiftly made their pitch for Haley's bloc of mainly affluent, moderate Republican voters.

After proclaiming that he had "TROUNCED" Haley, Trump invited them to "join the greatest movement in the history of our nation." Biden hailed her courage for telling the "truth about Trump" and said there was a place for her supporters in his campaign.

 'So conclusive' 

This year's Super Tuesday was sapped of suspense as Biden and Trump had effectively secured their parties' nominations before a ballot was cast.

Former president Trump, 77, swept 14 out of 15 states up for grabs on the biggest day of the 2024 race so far, with Haley denying him only in the north-eastern state of Vermont.

“They call it ‘Super Tuesday’ for a reason,” Trump told cheering supporters at his Mar-a-Lago beach club in Florida. “They tell me, the pundits and otherwise, that there has never been one like this, never been anything so conclusive.”

Impeached twice, beaten by seven million votes in 2020 and facing 91 felony charges in four trials, Trump has a profile unlike any US presidential election candidate in history.

Yet his appeal among working-class, rural and white voters on issues like immigration and the economy has propelled him toward the nomination in one of the most lopsided primary seasons ever seen.

“This means the campaign will continue to be Trump’s tour of personal grievance,” Todd Belt, a politics professor at George Washington University, told AFP

He also finally received the backing of Senate Republican Minority leader Mitch McConnell, who had fallen out with Trump over his baseless claims to have won the 2020 election.

 Warning signs 

Biden meanwhile raced to clear wins — minus a loss in tiny Pacific Ocean territory American Samoa — and warned that Trump was “determined to destroy” US democracy.

Biden is now expected to use his State of the Union speech in less than 48 hours to paint the election as a stark choice between himself and an existential threat to the country.

But while the election is set to be a rematch, recent polls give Trump a narrow lead, unlike four years ago when Biden was largely ahead of the vote.

There are also warning signs from a protest vote over Biden’s support for Israel’s offensive on Gaza, with some voters filling out ballots saying “uncommitted” in Minnesota and other states.

Red lights are flashing for Trump too despite his dominant Super Tuesday performance, with signs that traditional voters in key swing states could be turned off by the chaos and scandal swirling around him.

Stephanie Perini-Hegarty voted for Biden in Quincy, Massachusetts.

“I think we need a leader who is not involved in any corruption, and who is going to look out for the best interests of the people,” the 55-year-old told AFP.

MALÉ, Maldives — The Maldives has signed a “military assistance” deal with China after ordering Indian troops deployed in the small but strategically-placed archipelago to leave, officials said on Tuesday.

Some 89 Indian military personnel in the country will be gone by May 10 after having been previously ordered out by pro-China President Mohamed Muizzu, who came to power last year on an anti-Indian platform.

The Maldivian defence ministry said they signed an “agreement on China’s provision of military assistance” with Beijing late Monday, saying the agreement was “gratis”, or without payment or charge, but giving no further details.

The defence ministry said the deal was to foster “stronger bilateral ties”, in a post on social media platform X.

India is suspicious of China’s growing presence in the Indian Ocean and its influence in the Maldives, a chain of 1,192 tiny coral islands stretching around 800 kilometres across the equator, as well as in neighbouring Sri Lanka.

Both South Asian island nations are strategically placed halfway along key east-west international shipping routes.

Relations between Male and New Delhi have chilled since Muizzu won elections in September.

New Delhi considers the Indian Ocean archipelago to be within its sphere of influence, but the Maldives has shifted into the orbit of China — its largest external creditor.

Muizzu, who visited Beijing in January where he signed a raft of infrastructure, energy, marine and agricultural deals, has previously denied seeking to redraw the regional balance by bringing in Chinese forces to replace Indian troops.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters Tuesday that Beijing was doing “its utmost to jointly build a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership” with the archipelago.

“Normal cooperation between China and the Maldives does not target any third party and does not undergo any interference by third parties,” she added.

‘Surveillance’

India last week said it was bolstering its naval forces on its “strategically important” Lakshadweep islands, about 130 kilometres north of the Maldives.

The Indian naval unit based on the island of Minicoy will boost “operational surveillance” of the area, the navy said.

Addressing a public rally north of the capital on Monday, Muizzu vowed there would be no Indian troops on Maldivian soil after May 10, when they are expected to complete a withdrawal.

The Indians had been deployed to operate three reconnaissance aircraft New Delhi had gifted Male to patrol its vast maritime boundary.

India is expected to replace the military personnel with civilian staff to operate the aircraft, and the Maldives defence ministry announced last month that Indian civilian crew had begun arriving in the atoll nation.

Last month, Male allowed a controversial Chinese research ship to enter its waters in a sign of the nation’s diplomatic reorientation towards Beijing and away from its traditional benefactor India.

China’s Xiang Yang Hong 3 arrived in Male after being refused permission to dock by Sri Lanka following objections from India, which has labelled it a spy ship.

China also gave 12 electric ambulances to the Maldives on Sunday, the health ministry said.

SARAJEVO — Bosnia’s top international envoy has warned of Russia’s growing influence in the Balkan country amid a growing stand-off with the Moscow-backed Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik.

“We should not give [Vladimir Putin] the last decision... on whether Bosnia Herzegovina has a path to European integration,” Christian Schmidt told AFP during an exclusive interview this week.

“But I think we should stop declaring everything as normal... we have to address this.”

His comments come as the envoy — who helps oversee the fractured state for the international community — is locked in a feud with Dodik, a long time Kremlin ally on trial for signing legislation that refused to recognise decisions made by Schmidt and Bosnia’s constitutional court.

The veteran German diplomat is charged with overseeing the enforcement of the Dayton Agreement that ended the country’s bloody civil war in the 1990s.

Dodik, however, has refused to recognise Schmidt’s authority after Russia and China dropped their support for the envoy.

In July, Schmidt struck down two laws passed by the parliament of Bosnia’s Serbian entity which refused to recognise him and the top court.

Dodik has remained defiant, vowing to fight the charges in a trial that marks a potential tipping point for post-war Bosnia.

The case will likely serve as a litmus test of the weak central government’s ability to hold a leading politician to account after openly flouting the country’s peace accords and court system.

Kremlin ties

Outside of court, Dodik has continued to flaunt his ties with Moscow.

Last month, President Putin awarded Dodik the Order of Alexander Nevsky, one of Russia’s highest medals, during a state visit by the Bosnian Serb leader.

Schmidt and others have warned that the ties with Moscow risk further inflaming tensions in the region after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has driven a wedge through the Balkans.

“I would not exclude that some of the strategy is coming directly from Moscow,” Schmidt said of Dodik’s recent moves, as he denounced the Bosnian Serb leader’s “anti-European behaviour and his close relations to Putin”.

Schmidt’s comments come weeks ahead of the next meeting of the European Council in Brussels, which will likely be the last chance to open EU membership negotiations with Bosnia before June’s European elections.

Bosnia has been an official candidate for EU membership since 2022 but must implement a string of major reforms before opening accession negotiations.

So far, Bosnia has managed to pass Brussels-backed anti-money laundering legislation, but has yet to tackle more sensitive judicial reforms.

On Monday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned that delaying EU accession for the countries of the Western Balkans risked leaving them open to Russian “infiltration”.

“We cannot allow any grey areas in Europe and together we must do everything we can to protect the flanks that Russia can use for destabilisation, disinformation and infiltration,” she said ahead of a visit to the Balkans.

‘Yes and no’

Bosnia has been governed by a dysfunctional administrative system created under the Dayton pact that divides the country into two bodies — a Muslim-Croat federation and a Bosnian entity known as Republika Srpska.

The two entities are guaranteed a large degree of autonomy and connected by a weak central government.

To help manage the complex governance system, the top envoy enjoys wide powers, including to impose or annul laws and sack elected officials.

Schmidt defended his powers saying they support and assist “local authorities to develop a functioning state.”

Asked whether the broad powers proved the incompetence of Bosnia’s politicians, Schmidt sent mixed signals.

“As a diplomat, I would probably say yes and no,” he told AFP. “As a politician, I have to say yes, there is a problem.”

WASHINGTON — The US Supreme Court on Monday removed a potential hurdle to Donald Trump’s bid to recapture the White House, unanimously dismissing a state court ruling that could have barred him from the ballot for engaging in insurrection.

The high-stakes ruling in favor of the former president came on the eve of the Super Tuesday primaries that are expected to cement Trump’s march towards the Republican nomination to take on President Joe Biden in November.

It was the most consequential election case heard by the court since it halted the Florida vote recount in 2000 with Republican George W. Bush narrowly leading Democrat Al Gore.

The question before the nine justices was whether Trump was ineligible to appear on the Republican presidential primary ballot in Colorado because he engaged in an insurrection — the January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol by his supporters.

In a 9-0 decision, the conservative-dominated court said “the judgement of the Colorado Supreme Court... cannot stand”, meaning 77-year-old Trump, the Republican White House frontrunner, can appear on the state’s primary ballot.

“All nine Members of the Court agree with that result,” they added.

Trump hailed the decision, declaring a “BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!” in a post on his Truth Social website.

The case stemmed from a ruling in December by the state Supreme Court in Colorado, one of the 15 states and territories voting on Super Tuesday.

The state court, citing the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, ruled that Trump should be kicked off the ballot because of his role in the January 6 attack on Congress, when a mob tried to halt certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment bars those who engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” after once pledging to support and defend the Constitution from holding public office — although Trump’s lawyers argued the rule does not apply to the presidency.

During two hours of arguments last month, both conservative and liberal justices on the US Supreme Court expressed concern about having individual states decide which candidates can be on the presidential ballot this November.

‘Oath-breaking’

On Monday, the top court ruled that “responsibility for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates rests with Congress and not the States” — and that the principle applied “especially [to] the Presidency”.

The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War, was aimed at preventing supporters of the slave-holding breakaway Confederacy from being elected to Congress or from holding federal positions.

Monday’s ruling renders other similar state challenges to Trump’s primary ballot appearance, including in Maine, effectively moot.

Colorado’s secretary of state Jena Griswold said she was “disappointed” in the outcome, arguing in a post on X that the state should be able to bar “oath-breaking” insurrectionists.

Speaking to reporters from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump however said that legal moves against him were “in total coordination with the White House” and that he had “great respect for the Supreme Court”.

Other cases pending 

The Supreme Court, which includes three justices nominated by Trump, has historically been loath to get involved in political questions, but it is taking center stage in this year’s White House race.

Besides the Colorado case, the high court has also agreed to hear Trump’s claim that he is immune from criminal prosecution as a former president and cannot be tried on separate charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election.

Trump was impeached by the Democratic-majority House of Representatives for inciting an insurrection but was acquitted thanks to Republican support in the Senate.

He is also scheduled to go on trial in New York on March 25 on charges of covering up hush money payments to a porn star ahead of the 2016 election.

In yet another case, Trump faces federal charges in Florida of refusing to give up top secret documents after leaving the White House.