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It’s simple. The President’s first job is to protect Americans. When the Capitol was physically under attack, he didn’t mobilize the federal government to stop it. 1/x
But it’s not just that he didn’t protect us. It’s also that he precipitated the attack. He spent 50 millions dollars and his vast and powerful communications channels mobilizing people to be furious at a “stolen election” and to show up in a specific place at a specific time. 2/x
But don’t get it twisted - intimidating the GA Secretary of State demanding that he “find” the exact number of votes that he needed to prevail is an attempt at a coup. Even if this insurrection hadn’t occurred, he violated his oath by literally trying to steal the election. 3/x
I fear that by (reasonably) focusing on the violence, we imply that this would’ve been fine were it not for the the physical siege. His attempt at bullying election officials to flip states is easily worthy of conviction. 4/x
This isn’t a criminal trial with all of the things that go with this. It’s a determination about what we, the Senate, deem to be a minimum standard of presidential conduct. We set the precedent. We don’t rely on criminal or civil judicial precedent. It’s our call. 5/x
So the question is: Should bullying election officials to overturn a free and fair election, organizing a mob and directing it at the Capitol, and doing nothing to restore order while people die and the VP is being hunted down, be considered permissible? I will vote to convict.
