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1/12/2021
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Senate approves, House to consider resolution condemning Capitol violence, calling for Trump’s removal
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 STATE HOUSE – Resolutions condemning the violent invasion of the U.S. Capitol last week and calling for President Donald Trump’s removal from office were introduced in both chambers of the Rhode Island General Assembly today, and the Senate approved its version.
The resolution points to President Trump’s repeated lies about the results of the election and his efforts to coerce election officials into changing election results, and his instructions to supporters at a rally preceding the attack to “fight like hell” and march to the U.S. Capitol Building where the Joint Session of Congress was meeting to certify the electoral votes from all 50 states.
It “vehemently condemns the acts of violence and insurrection committed at the seat of our country's democracy and calls for the removal of President Donald J. Trump through the exercise of the 25th Amendment or Congressional impeachment.”
The Senate gave immediate consideration to and passed its resolution (2021-S 0008), which is being sponsored by Sen. Dawn Euer (D-Dist. 13, Newport, Jamestown),
“As elected officials, we should defend democracy in the strongest terms. The violence at our capitol was aimed at preventing the resolution of a free and fair election and it was incited by the president. Despite an utter lack of any evidence, he continues to lie about the results of the election he lost, and to insist that his supporters dismiss any information that contradicts him. He is attempting authoritarian rule and provoking mobs, and the danger that his deceit will lead to more violence is very real. He needs to be removed from office before he does any further damage to our country,” said Senator Euer.
The House, where Rep. Brandon Potter (D-Dist. 16, Cranston) is the sponsor of the resolution (2021-H 5005), is expected to take it up the next time it meets, Jan. 19.
“What happened at the Capitol was nothing short of a violent assault on democracy itself, and it happened because the president has tried every avenue he can think of to undermine the validity of the election results. There seems to be no limit to what he will do to try to cling to the power, including encouraging a mob that attacked Congress. This attack had a tragic and permanent human toll, and we must not allow it to succeed at degrading the strength of our democracy. Leaders across America should be demanding accountability from those who participated in this seditious act, starting with the person who incited it: Donald Trump,” said Representative Potter.
The resolution condemns the actions of the mob as well as Trump’s incitement to those at his rally.
“Incited by outright lies and misinformation, and driven by the misconception that their actions could encumber the true and just democratic process, the deadly mob assaulted police officers, scaled walls, and broke windows and doors as they forced their way into the U.S. Capitol building,” the resolution says.
For more information, contact:
Meredyth R. Whitty, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-1923
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