Senator Tammy Duckworth Responds To My Message RE: Impeachment

Dear William,

Thank you for contacting me about the impeachment of President Donald Trump. I appreciate you taking the time to make me aware of your concerns on this important issue. As you may be aware, I voted to convict and remove President Trump from office for abuse of power on February 5, 2020. Unfortunately every Republican Senator, except for Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, voted that President Trump was not guilty of abuse of power, allowing him to continue serving as President of the United States. I was deeply disappointed with this outcome and feared that acquitting President Trump in the face of an overwhelming amount of evidence demonstrating his guilt would only encourage future abuses of power. 

Tragically, my fears were realized before President Trump left office. On January 6, 2021, our Nation witnessed the violent and tragic consequences of the collective decision of 52 Republican Senators to shield President Trump from accountability the year before. The Commander in Chief once again abused his power, this time by inciting an angry mob to march on the United States Capitol. Acting on President Trump’s lies and misinformation, his followers engaged in a seditious conspiracy to hinder, delay and prevent the execution of the Electoral Count Act; and a violent insurrection that sought to destroy the rule of law and the constitutional order by seizing the chambers of Congress and assassinating the Vice President of the United States and Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Ever since I enlisted in the Reserve Officer Training Corps, I have sworn oaths to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic—first as a Soldier and now as a Senator. I have spent my entire adult life defending our democracy, but I never thought it would be necessary to defend it from an attempted violent overthrow in our Nation’s own Capitol Building. What America witnessed on January 6, 2021 was not a protest. It was an attempted coup by followers of Donald Trump who resorted to violence in their effort to stop the Congressional certification of election results to verify the American voters’ selection of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

The fact that the attempted coup failed does not lessen the magnitude of President Trump’s betrayal of our Nation and his violation of his oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Nor does it undo the brutal murder of a U.S. Air Force Veteran who was killed by angry thugs while serving as a Capitol Police Officer and defending a symbol of democracy among other law enforcement officers who lost their lives during and after this attack. Simply put, this violent assault on the United States Congress and law enforcement officers was organized, deadly and un-American. It was a direct attack on our Constitution.

On January 13, 2021, despite only serving a single term, President Trump became the first President in history to be impeached twice by the U.S. House of Representatives. The majority that voted to impeach President Trump a second time was the most bipartisan majority to impeach a President in our Nation’s history, continuing a trend from February 5, 2020, when President Trump became the first President in history to have a Senator of his own party vote to convict him. President Trump's direct involvement in the January 6, 2021 attack is undeniable and fully warranted his impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors, specifically his incitement of insurrection.

The Constitution does not contain a “January exception” that empowers a President of the United States to use his or her last weeks in office to wantonly commit high crimes and misdemeanors - free of any and all accountability, whether through the criminal justice system or constitutional accountability. That is why it was appropriate, consistent with past precedent and absolutely necessary for the Senate to fulfill its constitutional duty in initiating an impeachment trial after receiving the article of impeachment from the U.S. House of Representatives. After all, Donald Trump’s departure from the White House did not undo his incitement of insurrection, nor did it erase his second impeachment by a bipartisan majority in the House. 

The Senate settled the question of whether an impeached official could dodge accountability and escape from a Senate trial by leaving office in 1876. The answer was clear: no. And just as the Senate concluded that it retained impeachment jurisdiction over former government officials more than a century ago, the current Senate of the 117th Congress affirmed this principle and precedent when a bipartisan majority of 56 Senators ruled once again that in exercising the Senate’s sole authority to try all impeachments, it is constitutional for the Senate to try former President Trump. This is also consistent with the text of the Constitution. After all, accountability for an impeached individual found guilty of committing high crimes and misdemeanors is not limited to removal from office, the Senate must also address whether that guilty individual - who is now a former government official - should be prohibited from ever holding public office again. 

The January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol was a painful and tragic reminder that our Republic is not guaranteed. Democracy is fragile and it is up to every one of us—elected officials and citizens alike—to work to keep it. After we hold individuals accountable for their roles in inciting or engaging in insurrection and seditious conspiracy, our Nation will be ready to move forward. We will be able to unite in advancing the hard work of forming a more perfect Union, devoting less energy towards fighting amongst ourselves and more energy toward fighting a deadly pandemic that has already killed more than 470,000 Americans.  

Thank you again for contacting me on this important issue. If you would like more information on my work in the Senate, please visit my website at www.duckworth.senate.gov. You can access my voting record and see what I am doing to address today’s most important issues. I hope that you will continue to share your views and opinions with me and let me know whenever I may be of assistance to you.

Sincerely,

Tammy Duckworth
United States Senator