Dear Friend,

As a writing professor, I always told my students that words matter.

The Capitol attack on January 6th was incited by harmful words that we cannot ignore.

Former President Trump assembled a mob in Washington the day that Congress met to formally count our election results, lighting the flame of insurrection.

This was neither happenstance nor disconnected in any way. The president knew exactly what he was doing.

Five people are now dead. More than 130 police officers wounded.

The first step to healing and unifying our country is to hold those responsible to account and to ensure that this will never happen again. Our democracy depends on it.

It is our constitutional duty to hold Trump accountable for his words and his actions every single day of his presidency.

As the impeachment trial begins, I hope you stand with me in the fight for democracy so that our nation can begin to heal.

Sincerely,

Madeleine