Dear John,
During the first week of this Congress, our democratic institutions underwent one of the toughest tests yet. Rioters breached the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to disrupt the process of formalizing the electoral college votes and honoring the will of the American people. In their wake, they left destruction and vandalism. I wish to express my sorrow at the loss of life, particularly that of Officer Brian Sicknick, and my appreciation for the work of the vastly outnumbered Capitol Police. Despite the disruption, they could not deter us from finishing the People's work. In the early hours of the morning on January 7, a joint session of Congress reconvened and approved the electoral college vote count from the 2020 election, affirming that Joe Biden will be the 46th President of the United States.
Losing an election is not easy for candidates or supporters. But it is not a reason to incite violence. It is also not a reason to push unfounded claims of wrongdoing and illegality in this election that have been dismissed in state and federal courts across the country, as some members of Congress have. As representatives, we have a duty to uphold the Constitution that we swore an oath to support and defend. We also need to be truthful with the people we serve. The truth isn't always what we want to hear, but I know the American people can handle it, and it's the only way we can foster trust in our government. These were the principles that guided me during this week's joint session.
This is why I defended Pennsylvania's votes when an objection to them was raised. There has been a lot of noise about the election in our Commonwealth, so I wanted to make it clear: our election was legal, fair, and free of widespread fraud. More than 20 lawsuits have brought us to that conclusion. This is what I covered in my remarks early Thursday morning during debate. You can watch them here.
