Friends,

After the November election, while Donald Trump was spreading lies about how the election was rigged, a senior Republican official asked, “What’s the downside in humoring him?”

On January 6th, the true cost of humoring this egomaniac became very clear.

I have always been willing to put my safety on the line for my country. I deployed to Iraq ready to give whatever was asked of me because I believed in our electoral system which had declared George W. Bush my Commander-in-Chief. Even though I didn’t vote for him, I was willing to make sacrifices on his orders to defend our democracy. But I never, never thought our nation’s own Capitol building would need to be defended.

Let me be very clear:

What happened last week was not a protest — it was a coup attempt. And it was encouraged by the current President of the United States.

Donald Trump poses an active threat to our democracy and he must be removed from office immediately. The Cabinet has failed to invoke the 25th Amendment so the House had no choice but to impeach him. Now, it’s up to the Senate to finish the job.

Sign my petition and call on my Senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle to remove Donald Trump from office. The threat to our democracy won’t be over until he is no longer in the White House.

President Trump must be held accountable. And so should my Republican colleagues in Congress who stoked this insurrection. They seem to have forgotten about the oath we all took when being sworn into Congress. Here is a quick refresher for them:

I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

Defend the Constitution of the United States.

Protect against all enemies both foreign and domestic.

Discharge the duties of our office.

This is what we swore to the American people. It’s what we owe to the men and women who bravely sacrificed to defend our country.

The democracy they bled and died for is not worth damaging for the sake of protecting Donald Trump’s ego.

All my best,

Tammy Duckworth