I agree with the House impeachment resolution in full. The House should vote to impeach President Trump, again.
Four years ago minus eight days, Donald J. Trump swore an oath, “…and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Over the past two months he repeatedly violated that oath, attacking the Constitution and the presidential election process. He tried to seize for himself your right and mine to choose our next president by an agreed-upon set of rules.
Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden, fair and square. President Trump has then lied to the American people for two months, falsely claiming the election was stolen from him. He continues this lie even today. Courts investigated his claims; he lost. The states certified their results; he lost. The electors’ votes came to the Capitol to be counted. His exhortations led to a physical attack on the Capitol during the counting of those votes. After the insurrection, costing five lives so far, was quelled, Congress completed their task and counted the votes. Again, Mr. Trump lost. Mr. Biden won the presidency.
Simply put, President Trump tried to cheat in a constitutional process, a violation of his oath of office. He incited an insurrection, a violent uprising against an authority or government. He attacked that government from within for weeks, and then formed and provoked a mob of his most aggressive supporters, who attacked it from without.
We heard audio of President Trump trying to reverse the certified results of Georgia, threatening Georgia’s Secretary of State if he did not “find” enough votes to produce a Trump win.
President Trump pressured Vice President Pence to illegally disqualify electors from several states, disenfranchising more than 25 million voters in the process.
President Trump publicly urged his supporters to come to Washington and to march on the Capitol building, on the day and at the time when the Congress was counting the electors’ votes. That timing is significant. This was not a random rally; he was again trying to disrupt the constitutional and legal election processes. President Trump urged his army of supporters to march on the U.S. Capitol. It was his mob. He incited them to a four-pronged attack: on a sacred building, on all the people within it, on the legislative branch of our government, and on the constitutional vote-counting process.
At every stage of the election process, the Constitution defended itself, supported by widely accepted civic norms and by the honorable behavior of public servants in the courts, in the States, and in the legislative branch. Federalism and checks and balances worked, repelling the attack of a failed strongman. Mr. Biden defeated Mr. Trump in the election. The U.S. Constitution defeated Mr. Trump’s attempt to steal a second term.
Defending the integrity of our democracy must not be a partisan effort, and I hope the vote is overwhelming and bipartisan. I don’t care about the short-term side effects. This is about the long run. Accountability for these heinous acts and restoring lost credibility to this essential constitutional process are more important than any short-term pain.
I urge a YES vote on the impeachment of President Donald Trump for his attempted insurrection, his failed attack on our government and on the U.S. Constitution.