Friend,

This week, a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol to overturn the election. A Capitol police officer has died following the violence, and I am praying for his family. This attempted coup has cast a dark shadow over our nation – and we have our criminal president to blame for inciting this violence.

I've thought about his impeachment acquittal every day since it happened. I've thought about the complicity of my Republican counterparts in the Senate who allowed this habitual offender to remain in office.

We cannot forget: President Trump wanted this. He asked for it and made it happen. He riled his sycophants into laying siege to our Capitol, the temple of American democracy. Our country cannot heal until he and his enablers are held accountable for their actions. Whether through impeachment or the 25th Amendment, this president must go. Justice demands it.

President Trump has betrayed our national security, and he will do so again. He has compromised our elections, and he will do so again. My Republican colleagues who have been in lockstep with his reckless abandonment of our norms and institutions need to know he cannot be changed. He cannot be constrained. He is who he is.

But no matter what, we will not be intimidated. Democracy has already prevailed: Just days ago, Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff's incredible wins in Georgia helped us take back the Senate – paving the way for us to champion our shared values in the months ahead.

And none of this week’s sound and fury change the fact that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be our next president and vice president. Despite the unprecedented insurrection caused by the current president, we didn't let the people's House or our duty to the people fall. 

Our democracy is a beacon of light from which opportunity, prosperity and hope are made available for all. The American experience can withstand anything so long as we defend it. Above all, I believe that a government by the people, for the people, will endure.

Democracy will win.

All the best,

Congresswoman Val Demings