On the recordJanuary 6, 2022
Mr. President, a year ago, thousands of supporters of then- President Donald Trump--marching under banners supporting secession, conspiracy theories, and White supremacy--violently stormed the U.S. Capitol and breached the Senate and House Chambers in the hopes of overturning a free and fair election in which 7 million more Americans voted for President Biden. There was, of course, no proof and no truth to the claims of aberrant voting that Mr. Trump invented in order to fuel the mob. The assault on the Capitol was an attack on the United States and on democracy itself. We have the brave men and women of the U.S. Capitol Police to thank for defending the country against what can accurately be called an insurrection, and while the assault failed that day, thanks to the efforts of these officers and their partners from neighboring jurisdictions, an insidious campaign against our democracy continues through the baseless lies and antics of the former President and his associates. Mr. Trump set the events of January 6 in motion when he refused to say that he would accept the results of the November 2020 election, and he continued to value his ego over our democracy when he urged the mob to march to the Capitol and disrupt the election certification process. He repeatedly lied that the election he lost by 7 million votes had somehow been stolen, when the facts and the courts demonstrated that was clearly not the case. Stoked by his vitriol, Mr.…





