FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 6, 2021
Contact: Will Pregman, [email protected], 702.752.0656
LAS VEGAS, NV – Today, during the joint session of Congress to count the votes of the Electoral College from the 2020 election, a violent mob of Trump supporters broke into the capitol building resulting in at least one death. Earlier, President Trump had personally addressed the crowd with false allegations of a ‘stolen election’ and encouraged them to march on the capitol. Following the reports of vandalism and violence, Trump posted ridiculous now-removed statements to Twitter, reaffirming that those involved were justified in their actions and that, “we love you” and, “you’re very special”.
Annette Magnus, Executive Director of Battle Born Progress, said:
“It’s difficult to find words to describe how disgusted and angry we are in reaction to what was a domestic terrorist attack in our U.S. capitol today. Each of Nevada’s congressional delegation and their staff were put in grave danger, but were thankfully escorted to safety before any harm could come to them. This was an attack on our country, on our people, brought on by a president who refuses to accept that millions of Americans turned out to elect Joe Biden by overwhelming margins.”
“But it wasn’t just Trump. The Republicans and campaign surrogates who joined him in these last three months in waging a disinformation campaign to discredit the results of the election, without evidence, and invoke insurrectionist language and imagery in response this bogus conspiracy also wear the shame and blood on their hands.”
“This includes Trump surrogates in Nevada like Adam Laxalt, Councilwoman Michele Fiore, Assemblyman Jim Wheeler, Senate Minority Leader James Settelmeyer, and others who have humored these conspiracy theories and aligned themselves with militia groups threatening unrest if the election didn’t go their way. Fence-sitters like Congressman Mark Amodei, also deserve blame for playing coy with these open threats to our institutions and democracy.”
“In addition, the stark contrast in the show of force in response to this insurrection cannot be ignored either. Over the summer, we saw heavily militarized police wantonly deploy tear gas, rubber bullets, tanks, kettling, and other tactics against unarmed demonstrators protesting the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black people in both D.C. and across the country. Yet when a predominantly white mob descended on the nation’s capitol today, it took hours to summon law enforcement to the scene as our seat of government was vandalized. It’s reminiscent of the Bundy standoff and their takeover of the Malheur wildlife refuge in which white terrorists are treated with kid-gloves, only further emboldening their equally ridiculous cause even after their supporters killed two police officers who were eating lunch. Today, all of that treasonous behavior culminated in this sad and shameful day for our country.”
“With Trump and his allies continuing to stand by these false claims of a ‘stolen election’ which inspired today’s chaos, he is too dangerous to be allowed to remain in office, even for the next 14 days. Vice President Pence, the cabinet, and Congress should act quickly to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from power before he can use his pulpit to incite further violence. Republican members of Congress who continue to entertain unfounded election result objections after all of this in solidarity with the mob should also face consequences, including expulsion from their seats. It’s far past time for this nonsense to be tolerated any longer.”
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