[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 28 (Saturday, February 13, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S736-S738]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              IMPEACHMENT

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I take this time to explain why I voted to 
convict the former President of the United States, Donald Trump, of the 
Article of Impeachment presented by the House of Representatives in 
regards to the incitement of insurrection.
  Throughout his Presidency, Donald J. Trump has violated his oath of 
office to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United 
States. There are many examples that I can give of how he has violated 
his oath of office. I could also cite the basis of the first Articles 
of Impeachment that were tried last year as violating his oath of 
office. But, by far, the most egregious violation of his oath of office 
took place in his incitement of insurrection that occurred with the 
attack on this Capitol on January 6.
  But it started well before January 6. The seeds were planted a long 
time ago and even before the November elections, when President Trump 
pointed out, when the polls were showing that he might lose in the 
election, that he refused to acknowledge that he would accept the 
election results if he lost. He didn't say that once before the 
November elections, he said it on several occasions. He talked about a 
rigged election. He talked about a fraudulent election. He talked about 
the election being ``taken away from us''--the victory--with no 
evidence of voter fraud.
  One of the key provisions of our Constitution, of our democracy, is 
the peaceful transition of power. Donald Trump called that into 
question prior to the November 3 elections.

  Then came the November 3 elections, and, shortly thereafter, Joe 
Biden was declared to be the winner. Why? Because he had the most 
votes--most populace votes--over 7 million. But he was declared the 
winner because of the electoral votes, 306 to 232. By the way, that is 
the same electoral margin that Donald Trump won 4 years earlier and 
which Donald Trump called a ``landslide.''
  But then came the legal challenges by President Trump. He didn't 
accept the electoral vote or the declared elections. And he has his 
right to contest the elections in the court by asking for recounts or 
asking for challenges, but in every one of those cases, he could

[[Page S737]]

not establish widespread fraud that would have changed the results in 
any one of the States, let alone enough electoral vote changes to 
change the outcome of the election.
  But did he stop after he was denied relief in all of those legal 
challenges? The answer is no. He further contested by trying to 
inappropriately interfere with State election officials and State 
public officials, urging them to take action to change the 
certification results.
  Now, we have many examples that during this period of time he was 
talking about a fraudulent election, a stolen election, all the 
different things about raising questions as to the legitimacy of the 
voices of people of this Nation. We have so many examples of his 
interference, but we actually have the tape of his conversation with 
the Georgia secretary of state that we all heard and heard how the 
President tried to intimidate and threaten the secretary of state of 
Georgia in order to change the certified election results from the 
votes of the people of Georgia--clear examples of how President Trump 
violated his oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of 
the United States.
  But that wasn't the end of it. He went to his Department of Justice 
believing the Department of Justice is his Department of Justice, not 
the Department of Justice of the United States of America. Now, let's 
remember that the Department of Justice had found no widespread 
corruption. In fact, they had determined this was one of the freest 
elections and one of the least problem elections that we have had. It 
didn't stop President Trump from trying to intimidate and order his 
Department of Justice to conduct an additional investigation to find 
fraud to overturn the will of the people--once again, violating his 
oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
  He continued to do this, contrary to his constitutional obligations. 
``Corrupt election,'' ``stop the steal,'' ``rigged elections,'' 
``tremendous fraud''--all words that he used after the November 3 
election. He knew what he was saying was a lie. He knew there was no 
widespread fraud, but he continued to use the Office of the Presidency 
and his voice to promote the big lie, and he knew his followers would 
believe it. He knew he could convince his loyal followers to believe 
that this was a rigged election--a stolen election--again, compromising 
our democracy and the will of the people to determine who our leaders 
are. And he knew his followers would be motivated to action because he 
knew he could motivate his followers.
  He put himself before the Nation and before his responsibilities as 
President of the United States. He put his own self-interest above his 
responsibilities under the Constitution of the United States and to the 
people of this Nation.
  And then he summoned his loyal following to Washington on January 6. 
He knew they would come. He knew dangerous people were in the group. He 
knew the Proud Boys were there, to which he had directly said: ``Stand 
back and stand by.'' He knew that they were ready for violent action.
  And then he incited the mob to action on January 6. We know the words 
that he used. We saw the videos as part of the record of the 
impeachment trial. ``We will never surrender,'' ``we will never 
concede,'' ``we will stop the steal,'' ``stolen election''--all words 
that he had been using during the entire 2020 election cycle, 
particularly when he thought he was going to lose.
  But the most damning part of the President's violation of his oath of 
office--the most serious part--is what he did and did not do after 
seeing the violence erupt in the United States Capitol. After the 
Capitol was penetrated, after we saw the violence being committed, 
where we knew that the Members of Congress were in danger, the Vice 
President of the United States was in danger, the people that work here 
were in danger, all the people that were in the Capitol legitimately 
were in danger--we all saw that--and the President of the United States 
knew that, and he did nothing to stop the violence. He could have 
called off his loyalists and told them to get out of the Capitol. He 
didn't do that. He could have sent in the National Guard in order to 
protect us. He didn't do that. And he never condemned the participants 
in this mob in penetrating the Capitol for what they did.
  I am going to sort of summarize my feeling about that by agreeing 
with Representative Liz Cheney, the House Republican caucus chair, who 
said it on the floor of the House. Let me just quote her statement:

       The President of the United States summoned this mob, 
     assembled this mob, and lit the flame of this attack. 
     Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would 
     have happened without the President. The President could have 
     immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. 
     He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a 
     President of the United States of his office and his oath to 
     the Constitution.

  I agree with that. President Trump violated his oath of office to 
protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. He violated 
that.
  But let's take a look at what he did do after knowing the violence 
that occurred--his tweet of 2:24 p.m. Now, this is after the Vice 
President had been removed from presiding in the Chamber, after he knew 
the violence that was taking place in the Capitol of the United States. 
He was aware of all that. He knew that we had shut down the operations 
of the House and the Senate, that there was violence taking place 
within the Capitol, and that his Vice President was the target of that 
attack. And what he tweeted at 2:24 p.m.--I am quoting the President: 
``Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done 
to protect our country.'' He inflamed the group even more to violence 
after he knew that it was a violent circumstance.
  He had known violence had taken place, and we heard put into the 
record of the impeachment trial today Congresswoman Beutler's report of 
Majority Leader McCarthy's conversation, which, again, is during this 
period of time. Here we are. The Republican leader of the House of 
Representatives gets the President on the phone. He says: Mr. 
President, we are being attacked. My office is being broken into. We 
need help. Send the Guard. Take care of us.
  And then President Trump said something like: Well, it is not my 
supporters. It is some leftwing group.
  And Leader McCarthy said: No, Mr. President, these are your 
supporters who are doing this.
  And what did the leader say? What did the President say? I guess, 
Kevin, these people are more upset about the election than you are.
  Here we have the Members of Congress in harm's way, and the President 
is talking about the support for those who are causing the violence and 
putting his own interest above the safety of the people whom he is 
sworn to protect as our Commander in Chief.
  And then, at the end of the day, about 6 o'clock, he sends out a 
tweet that really sums up his feelings about what these people were 
doing. Now, these are people who came into the Capitol. They killed 
people. They hurt people. They stole property. They damaged property. 
They invaded the Capitol of the United States. They hurt law 
enforcement officers. They hurt all of us. They hurt our democracy. So 
how does the President sum up the day? His tweet:

       These are the things that happen when a sacred landslide 
     victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped away 
     from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated 
     for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day 
     forever!

  He was repeating the big lie and saying the day was a day of 
celebration when it was one of the bleakest days, dark days in the 
history of our Nation. That is what President Trump did, rather than 
bringing in the National Guard, rather than telling his people to go 
home, rather than being concerned about the safety of the Vice 
President and the Members of Congress as the President of the United 
States should have been doing.
  He violated his oath of office over and over and over again--a 
pattern of practice that we have seen for so long. It clearly 
establishes that he incited an insurrection against our country--that 
the facts included as a basis for the Article of Impeachment brought to 
us by the House of Representatives have been proven.
  The purpose of impeachment is not just the accountability for the 
President but also to protect our Constitution and to make sure this 
conduct never happens again. No one is above

[[Page S738]]

the law, including the President of the United States. Everyone who was 
responsible for the insurrection that occurred on January 6 should be 
held accountable--from those who broke into the Capitol and caused the 
harm and damage to the President of the United States who incited the 
violence.
  That is why I voted to convict President Trump of the Article of 
Impeachment for inciting an insurrection, and that is why I would have 
voted for disqualifying him from ever holding an office of trust again.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.

                          ____________________