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Press Release

“A Smoking Arsenal of Guilt”: Former Ambassador Norman Eisen, Pollster Celinda Lake, and Defend Democracy Co-Chair Leslie Dach Discuss What We’ve Learned So Far from the January 6 Hearings

By June 30, 2022No Comments

Brand New Polling Presented Shows Public Interest In and Support for The Hearings and for Trump and his Allies Being Held Accountable for Their Crimes 

Watch here

Washington, DC —Today former ambassador Norman Eisen, president of Lake Research Partners Celinda Lake, and Defend Democracy Project co-chair Leslie Dach held a press event to discuss what we’ve learned so far from the January 6 Select Committee hearings. The speakers discussed new polling on the public’s view of the events of January 6 and the hearings, new revelations from the past few weeks, and the ongoing threat to our country still posed by Trump and his MAGA allies.

These hearings have laid out real evidence gathered by career prosecutors proving that Trump and his MAGA allies planned, promoted, and paid for a criminal conspiracy to overturn the election they lost. This criminal conspiracy extends well beyond the violence perpetrated on January 6, 2021, that injured 140 police officers, including making it harder for people to vote, attempting to appoint bogus electors to overturn the will of voters, and intimidating state officials to change the results in contested states. 

“[Accountability] is the number one thing that people want, even ahead of justice. And accountability means holding people responsible, punishing people, and having them pay the price for the deeds they did,” said President of Lake Research Partners Celinda Lake.  “People are holding both Donald Trump responsible but also increasingly Trump Republicans. It wasn’t just spontaneous. It wasn’t one person. And voters are increasingly connecting this responsibility to Trump Republicans in Congress and to their votes at the state, local, and national level.” 

“There is not just a smoking gun but a smoking arsenal of evidence against Donald Trump and his co-conspirators,” said former ambassador Norman Eisen. “We’re seeing extraordinary numbers in public opinion and the sentiments of the American people, thanks to the performance of the committee in reaching out to them and conveying the truth of what happened.”

“The hearings matter. Americans are paying attention, they are concerned and they want accountability in the courts and at the ballot box,” said Defend Democracy Project co-chair Leslie Dach.  “Americans now know unequivocally that Trump engaged in a criminal conspiracy with his Republican allies to overturn an election he lost, and supported the violent attack on our country on Jan 6. And we know that the conspiracy continues, with allegations of witness tampering, continued failure of people who know the truth to tell the truth, silence from elected Republicans, and the victories by Republican candidates in the primaries who supported the conspiracy and want to be able to overturn future elections they lose.”