Donald Trump blatantly violated his oath of office and fanned the flames of the insurrection on January 6th. As Congress met to certify the election of Joe Biden as President, a defeated Donald Trump incited and set loose a vicious, racist, mob on the United States Capitol – a mob he knew to be heavily armed.  

He had sworn an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic, yet he assembled, incited, and directed a domestic enemy to attack the Capitol. And for more than three hours he refused to call off the mob. He sat and watched on TV the horrible violence he had instigated and did nothing despite the pleas of his advisors, Fox News personalities, his family, and members of Congress whose lives were in jeopardy. He even went so far as to throw fuel on the fire at the Capitol by attacking his Vice President, Mike Pence, in a tweet that further inflamed the mob.  

It was only after Fox News declared that the tide was turning on the protestors at the Capitol that he grudgingly agreed to tape a message calling off the mob. But in it he praised the mob and told them never to forget what they had done that day before finally telling them to go home. 

The thorough investigation by the bipartisan January 6th Committee has laid bare the criminal conspiracy by former-President Trump and his co-conspirators and their bald-faced attempt to overturn the result of the 2020 election. It was a multi-pronged effort to steal the election that Trump had lost. The insurrection on January 6th was only his final desperate attempt to cling to power despite losing the general election.   

The threat Donald Trump represents to our democracy remains. He continues to lay the groundwork to ensure that if he tries to overturn another election, he will be successful. January 6, 2021 was one of the darkest days in our nation’s history, and we cannot simply turn the page and move on. Everyone involved in the attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election must be held to account – everyone up to and including former President Donald Trump.