PRESS RELEASE Contact: [email protected]
For Immediate Release
Date: October 14, 2022
Washington, DC —Today, Norm Eisen, an expert on law, ethics, and anti-corruption, Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen, Debra Perlin, Policy Director at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), and Brad Woodhouse, co-chair of Defend Democracy Project, joined a virtual press briefing hosted by Defend Democracy Project to discuss the revelations from yesterday’s January 6th Committee hearings, holding the former president accountable for his premeditated illegal plan, and MAGA Republicans’ ongoing threat to our country and our right to vote.
Throughout the past year, the bipartisan House Select Committee investigating the events surrounding January 6th has been collecting information and details regarding what Donald Trump knew, when he knew it, and what other illegal and unconstitutional actions he and his team took in an attempt to undo the results of a fair and free election, overturn the will of the people, and incite a violent attack on the Capitol. The Committee closed yesterday’s proceedings with a bombshell, unanimous vote to subpoena Donald Trump to testify under oath.
If not held accountable, Trump and MAGA Republicans will continue to commit crimes and incite violence to take power. They threaten our most basic freedoms – choosing our own leaders – and our very democracy. They act as if they are above the law. They want to take away our rights and freedoms and must be held accountable.
“Yesterday was really the nail in the coffin of the criminality of the behavior of Trump and his co-conspirators. These nine hearings have driven forward on both of these counts with devastating testimony not from Democrats, but from Republicans and Trump allies,” said Norm Eisen, an expert on law, ethics, and anti-corruption. “Trump admitted he lost and said he was embarrassed. Donald Trump must be disqualified. He is an insurrectionist. Now is the time for action.”
“The American people do care about the state of our democracy, the functioning of our democracy, and whether it exists for all of us, but they need to have the story told to them in ways that are clear and compelling,” said Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen. “One of the top takeaways from this set of hearings and the work of the committee is that there was a concerted campaign to launch a coup, a self-coup against the United States.”
“It goes without saying that Trump should testify. A subpoena is a legal process, a legal process that any American can be subjected to. As we’ve said repeatedly throughout these hearings and really throughout Trump’s entire presidency, no one is above the law,’” said Debra Perlin, Policy Director at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). “ Liz Cheney was right yesterday when she said that without accountability, this attack on free and fair elections can and will happen again. There are election deniers on the ballot throughout the country. This is an ongoing threat.”
“One of the goals of the Defend Democracy project this year was to bring public attention to this. Our organization was concerned about whether people would care about the hearing, and that they wouldn’t be effective or persuasive. That is a myth that has been busted,” said Defend Democracy Project co-chair, Brad Woodhouse. “Every single hearing, we’ve had a dramatic movement in terms of new revelations. We saw bipartisan congressional leadership doing the job that Donald Trump refused to do.”
Watch the full briefing here.
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