Today, Representative John Curtis (R-UT) and Republican colleagues introduced a concurrent resolution to censure the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, for attempting to unlawfully overturn the 2020 Presidential election and for violating his oath of office on January 6th, 2021.
In the aftermath of the riot at the Capitol last week, lawmakers have the solemn duty to accomplish two missions: hold the President fully and unequivocally accountable for his actions, and simultaneously calm and heal the fever-pitch tensions in our country. Congressman Curtis released the following statement:
“The events at the Capitol last week were abhorrent; all those involved must be held accountable, including President Trump. Censuring the President and making it clear that Congress does not support any level of his involvement in the riots nor any attempts to undermine an election is a critical step in holding him accountable as more facts continue to unfold,” said Curtis. “I urge the Speaker and Democratic leadership to allow time for a full impeachment inquiry so we can properly bring these facts to light and hold those responsible accountable.”
This concurrent resolution calls on Congress to publicly state that President Donald J. Trump has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law; censure and condemn President Donald J. Trump for trying to unlawfully overturn the 2020 Presidential election and violating his oath of office; and to affirm that Joseph R. Biden, Jr. was duly elected as the 46th President of the United States on November 3rd, 2020, was certified as the winner of the 2020 Presidential election by a Joint Session of Congress, and he will be lawfully sworn in to office on January 20th, 2021.
Representatives Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) Tom Reed (R-NY), Young Kim (R-CA), Fred Upton (R-MI), and Peter Meijer (R-MI) joined Congressman Curtis in introducing this concurrent resolution.
The language of the resolution is as follows:
Censuring and condemning President Donald J. Trump for trying to unlawfully overturn the 2020 Presidential election and violating his oath of office on January 6, 2021.
Whereas, on January 6, 2021, pursuant to the 12th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, the House of Representatives, and the Senate met at the United States Capitol for a Joint Session of Congress to count the votes of the Electoral College;
Whereas in the months preceding the Joint Session, President Trump repeatedly issued false statements asserting that the Presidential election results were the product of widespread fraud and should not be accepted by the American people or certified by State or Federal officials;
Whereas shortly before the Joint Session commenced, President Trump addressed a crowd at the Ellipse in Washington, DC;
Whereas there, he reiterated false claims that ‘‘we won this election, and we won it by a landslide’’;
Whereas he also made statements that, in context, encouraged—and foreseeably resulted in—lawless action at the Capitol, such as: ‘‘if you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore’’;
Whereas members of the crowd he had addressed, in an attempt to, among other objectives, interfere with the Joint Session’s solemn constitutional duty to certify the results of the 2020 Presidential election, unlawfully breached and vandalized the Capitol, injured and killed law enforcement personnel, menaced Members of Congress, the Vice President, and Congressional personnel, and engaged in other violent, deadly, destructive, and seditious acts;
Whereas President Trump’s conduct on January 6, 2021, followed his prior efforts to subvert and obstruct the certification of the results of the 2020 Presidential election;
Whereas those prior efforts included a phone call on January 2, 2021, during which President Trump urged the secretary of state of Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, to ‘‘find’’ enough votes to overturn the Georgia Presidential election results and threatened Secretary Raffensperger if he failed to do so;
Whereas in all of this, President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government;
Whereas he threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coequal branch of Government; and
Whereas he thereby betrayed his trust as President, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress—
(1) publicly states that President Donald J. Trump has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law;
(2) censures and condemns President Donald J. Trump for trying to unlawfully overturn the 2020 Presidential election and violating his oath of office on January 6, 2021; and
(3) affirms that Joseph R. Biden, Jr.—
(A) was duly elected as the 46th President of the United States on November 3, 2020;
(B) was certified as the winner of the 2020 Presidential election by a Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021; and
(C) will be lawfully sworn in to office on January 20, 2021.
