Truth Matters in Safeguarding Our Democracy Against Disinformation, Insurrection, and Sedition

All the signals were there for weeks (if not longer) since he lost the presidential election resoundingly that Donald Trump was determined to stay in power and incite a violent mob to undermine American democracy, the will of the people, and the rule of law. Too many of his loyalists and enablers have aided and abetted Trump's disinformation campaign over the years, and his dangerous efforts to subvert the U.S. Constitution.

Oath of Office:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

Seditious Conspiracy: American leaders who take this important oath to defend our Constitution don't encourage supporters to assault and attack the U.S. Capitol and try to prevent and hinder Congress from carrying out its legal duty to certify the election, and intent to overthrow our government with lies, falsities, and violence.

On January 6, 2021, President Trump abused his power and incited a violent mob to attack the U.S. Capitol in hopes of pressuring lawmakers with disinformation to toss out the election results, ignore the will of the people, and install him as president for another term. “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

All of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by emboldened radical Democrats....We will never give up. We will never concede. It will never happen. You don’t concede when there’s death involved. Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore. President Donald Trump, 6 January 2021, Remarks at the "Save America March" (Ellipse just south of the White House)

With complicit loyalists and enablers including some in Congress, Trump's soft coup and mob failed as they stormed our Capitol and tried to subvert our democracy and constitution.

Trump's carnage and the unleashed violent chaos, storming mob, insurrection, and seditious criminality tested our American democracy and U.S. Constitution. Both pillars of freedom admired around the world held firm.

Five people died during violent pro-Trump protests at the U.S. Capitol. One police officer of the Metropolitan Police Department died and at least 14 members were injured. Six firearms and two pipe bombs were recovered, as was a cooler of molotov cocktails. Capitol Police and other law enforcement officers were "actively attacked" with metal pipes and other weapons.

The alarming violence that America witnessed on January 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol (temple of democracy) could have been so much worse, had this riotous mob and domestic terrorists arrived with lethal semi-automatic weapons, grenades, and other weapons that could have inflicted maximum harm and caused mortal and serious injury of congressional police officers, members of Congress and their staff, and innocent American bystanders.

This can not happen again. We can not ignore similar signals of possible insurrection and sedition in the future.

We must be more vigilant moving forward against future assaults on our Constitution, our democracy, and the rule of law. But for some couregeous public servants (e.g., Republican state election officials in Georgia), and our independent judiciary and our evidence-based system of justice, our democracy could have been destabilized.

We must also hold accountable those who failed to live up to their oath to the Constitution and were complicit with their blind ambition, thirst for power, and disregard of the truth. Too many have enabled President Trump's corrupt behavior, delusions, disinformation (conspiracy theories), and amorality including undermining our constitution, national security, democratic norms, institutions, and values.

History will harshly judge their betrayal to our country.

In times of crisis, when our constitution is being subverted, we must trust our leaders to speak truth and help us balance our fears with integrity and honesty, our anxiety with compassion, and to help us face our challenges with steely determination to protect our democracy.

Leadership, when anchored with honesty and speaking truth about facts and realities on the ground, can be a force multiplier for good of our country, solve today’s complex problems, and safeguard our faith in democracy for future Americans and generations.

Speaking truth to power is what leadership is all about, as is firmly upholding one's oath to defend our constitution and our country against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

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The Lies, Falsities, Conspiracies: Disinformation

Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore and that’s what this is all about. To use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal. Today I will lay out just some of the evidence proving that we won this election, and we won it by a landslide.

This was not a close election. I say sometimes jokingly, but there’s no joke about it, I’ve been in two elections. I won them both and the second one, I won much bigger than the first. Almost 75 million people voted for our campaign, the most of any incumbent president by far in the history of our country, 12 million more people than four years ago. . . . By the way, does anybody believe that Joe had 80 million votes? Does anybody believe that? He had 80 million computer votes. It’s a disgrace. . . .[I]f Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election. All he has to do. This is from the number one or certainly one of the top constitutional lawyers in our country. He has the absolute right to do it. We’re supposed to protect our country, support our country, support our constitution, and protect our constitution. States want to revote. The States got defrauded. They were given false information. They voted on it. Now they want to recertify. They want it back. All Vice-President Pence has to do is send it back to the States to recertify, and we become president, and you are the happiest people. . . .So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, I love Pennsylvania Avenue, and we’re going to the Capitol and we’re going to try and give… The Democrats are hopeless. They’re never voting for anything, not even one vote. But we’re going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones, because the strong ones don’t need any of our help, we’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country. President Donald Trump, 6 January 2021, Remarks at the "Save America March" (Ellipse just south of the White House)

The Facts: Truth Matters

American elections and the peaceful transfers of power that result are hallmarks of our democracy.

The American people have voted and a majority (81,283,098 Votes or 51.3 percent) has elected Joe Biden, who has also won enough Electoral College Votes (over 270 with 306) to secure the Presidency.

The Electoral College affirmed these elections and the Will of the People has prevailed in December when all states certified their votes.

U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Texas’ and Trump Campaign efforts to throw out Presidential election results including voting results in four states: Arizona, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.

A Federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals had also denied the Trump campaign’s attempt to challenge a lower court loss that had sought to stop — or even reverse — the certification of election results in Pennsylvania saying 'claims have no merit'.

“Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy,” Judge Stephanos Bibas, a Trump appointee, wrote on behalf of the appeals court.

“Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.”

Voters, not lawyers, choose the president. Ballots, not briefs, decide elections.”

Since the elections were over, courts and judges have tossed out nearly all of the roughly 60 suits filed by the Trump campaign, and their lawyers.

Trump's Attorney General (Bill Barr) and senior DHS Election Security Official (Chris Krebs) have stated that there was no widespread fraud in the recent presidential elections, and that it was "one of the most secure in American history". Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Liz Cheney (House Republican Conference Chair, the third-highest position in the House Republican leadership), and other senior elected Republicans, have recognized Joe Biden as the President-elect of the United States.

There is also no evidence either that DOJ, FBI, or CIA (referred as "treasonous swamp rats"), or Republican leaders in swing states, conspired to "steal" the election or enabled a fraudulent presidential election.

For months, President Trump had refused to commit to the peaceful transfer of power.

On January 7, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence announced that President-elect Joe Biden had won the presidency after Congress completed the counting of the Electoral College votes.

After overwhelming outcry from across the political spectrum and communities in United States, protest resignations, and international outrage resulting from yesterday's insurrection and mob storming the U.S. Capitol, Trump finally, via Twitter, committed to a peaceful transition while continuing to claim that the elections were "rigged" and "stolen".

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"Since his resounding defeat in the presidential election in November, Donald Trump has done everything but concede to the democratic will of the American people. He unleashed an avalanche of lies and baseless claims of fraud — conspiracy theories that filled his supporters with a delusional belief that the election had been stolen from him. He filed a bevy of absurd lawsuits. He attempted to cajole and intimidate officials at all levels of government into subverting the election and keeping him in office. And then, running out of recourse, legitimate and illegitimate, he incited an insurrection against the government and the Constitution that he swore to uphold.

The attempted coup at the United States Capitol last Wednesday, which took place as lawmakers inside counted the electoral votes that would formalize Joe Biden’s overwhelming election by the American people, marks one of the lowest points in our country’s 245-year experiment in democracy.

From Andrew Jackson to Richard Nixon, we have seen presidents abuse their power, but we had never witnessed an American president incite a violent mob on the citadel of our democracy in a desperate attempt to cling to power." David N. Cicilline is a U.S. representative and a member of the House Judiciary Committee.

Read Draft Article of Impeachment:

117TH CONGRESS,1ST SESSION, H. RES. ___

Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Mr. CICILLINE (for himself, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. NADLER, and [see ATTACHED LIST of cosponsors]) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on

RESOLUTION

Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.

Resolved,

That Donald John Trump, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors and that the following article of impeachment be exhibited to the United States Senate:

. . . .In his conduct while President of the United States—and in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed—Donald John Trump engaged in high Crimes and Misdemeanors by inciting violence against the Government of the United States . . . .

In all this, President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government. He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coequal branch of Government.

He thereby betrayed his trust as President, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States. . . . .

Read Draft Article of Impeachment

On January 13, 2021, Donald J. Trump became the first American president to be impeached twice, as 10 members of his party joined with Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives to charge him with “incitement of insurrection” for his role in formenting a violent mob that stormed the Capitol last week. The House's single article of impeachment -- approved 232 to 197 -- accused Mr. Trump with “high crimes and misdemeanors” and for “inciting violence against the government of the United States” in his criminal quest to overturn the election results, and called for him to be removed and disqualified from ever holding public office again.

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