Impeachment

Floor Speech

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, in this impeachment trial, every Senator was a juror, but also a witness and victim of the violent insurrection Donald Trump incited. The case was straightforward. Former President Trump instigated an armed riot seeking to overthrow a lawful election and possibly even injure or assassinate elected officials.

I spent most of my career enforcing laws, including two decades as Connecticut's attorney general. In this role, I learned the power and the significance of accountability. When wrongdoers enjoy impunity for their actions, they and others like them are emboldened.

The first time former President Trump was impeached by the House, he had pressured a foreign government to corrupt the American election process, extorting a vulnerable, fledgling democracy to help him cheat in a Presidential election.

This time, former President Trump's attack on American democracy was more direct and violent. The insurrectionists forced us to flee for our lives, to place desperate, seemingly final calls to loved ones. A Capitol police officer died protecting us.

I have the same fear now, only greater, that I felt at the close of former President Trump's last impeachment. By again refusing to hold former President Trump accountable, the Senate is paving the way for another would-be tyrant to break laws and norms to retain power.

We in the Senate are obligated to uphold our oaths to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Our oaths obligate us to hold former President Trump to account for his incitement of a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, the symbol of American democracy around the world.

The case against Donald Trump was proven convincingly with videos and voice recordings so powerful that this printed word can never capture their force. The former President's offense in this case is as dangerous as it is straightforward. He spent months of his Presidency telling and retelling the ``Big Lie.'' The lie that no matter how the American people voted at the ballot box, he was the only legitimate winner of the 2020 Presidential election. That the election was stolen from him, that anyone who disagrees is un-American, a traitor.

As Manager Lieu explained at trial, at a certain point in his efforts to undermine the 2020 election, ``Trump ran out of non-violent options to retain power.''

Donald Trump encouraged, emboldened, and even helped build a mob of violent extremists that he invited to Washington, DC, and incited to storm the Capitol. While some Members of Congress were serving the former President in seeking to subvert American democracy by objecting to vote counting, Trump was imploring the mob to do the same. He told supporters to ``never give up'' on the ``Big Lie.'' He told them that ``this election was stolen from you, from me, from the country.'' He said, ``if you don't fight, you are not going to have a country anymore.'' He told the insurrectionists to go to the Capitol, and he even lied to them that he would be going with them.

The resulting violence, clearly foreseeable, was horrifying. They marched to the Capitol. Rioters broke windows and breached the building. They killed a 42-year-old Capitol Hill police officer and Air Force veteran, Brian Sicknick. They did stop the vote counting, if only temporarily. They injured many.

Members of Congress removed congressional pins to avoid identification from the mob. Senators ran from the Senate Chamber. They ran for their lives. Rioters flew a Confederate flag, a symbol of hate that did not fly in the Capitol even at the height of the Civil War.

Donald Trump watched this deadly attack unfold with glee from the Oval Office. On national TV, he told the insurrectionists that he loved them. ``I know you're hurt,'' he consoled the rioters. ``We love you. You're very special.'' He did not lift a finger to help anyone threatened with violence, including his Vice President.

As a result of former Donald Trump's incitement, an angry mob stormed the Capitol with every intent to harm elected officials and disrupt the peaceful transfer of power. Not only has the world lost Brian Sicknick, two other Capitol Police officers have died by suicide. Several members of the mob were killed.

The Senate's failure to convict increases the specter of another would-be tyrant, as well as Donald Trump, seeking again to mobilize a mob to overthrow democracy. Violent extremism has been emboldened. It is a present, immediate danger.

My colleagues know that former President Trump lost the 2020 Presidential election. They know that more than 60 courts tossed out his attempts to drum up baseless allegations of voter fraud. They know that the director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a lifelong Republican, certified the election was safe and secure. And they know that former President Trump incited the insurrectionists to attack the Capitol on January 6.

Democracy is not our default state of being. Democracy thrives only so long as the institutions that support it thrive. And democratic institutions will only thrive and persist through hard work, active work, dedicated work of our elected officials. For 4 years, former President Trump continuously attacked our basic norms and institutions of democracy. For 4 years, he normalized chaos. Our job now-- Republicans, Democrats, Independents--is to restore. We must dedicate ourselves to restoring the rule of law, the protections of rights, and the integrity of institutions. And that task starts with accountability for all those who perpetrated the damage.

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