WASHINGTON – Statement by Alexandra Flores-Quilty, Executive Director of By the People, regarding today’s final vote by the Senate in the impeachment trial of President Trump.
“Today, by voting to cover up Trump’s crimes, the Senate declared that our Constitution does not apply to the powerful few and granted this lawless president unrestricted power. Those Senators who voted to acquit have exposed themselves as traitors to democracy and have consented to further abuses of power by Trump at the expense of our rights and our lives. This is a crisis of democracy. Our institutions have failed us and so, we, the people must take responsibility for our safety, for our liberty, and for our country’s future.
We know these truths to be self evident: Trump is guilty, removal is our only option for dealing with dangerous leaders in power, and removal will allow us to move closer to making our country’s revolutionary promise of liberty and justice a reality for all. This fight has never been about Democrats vs Republicans. Over many months, our movement built an American majority across race, gender, class, generation, political party, and geography to support impeachment and removal. Through sustained public pressure and hundreds of mobilizations, we, the people, impeached him and, despite the results of this sham trial, we, the people, still have the power and duty to remove Trump and every one of his cronies from office. The day we stop fighting for democracy is the day we lose it. Every American must make a choice: will you fight for democracy or submit to dictatorship?
This trial may close, but this movement continues. We will rise alongside those elected representatives like Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Al Green who responded early on to our calls to action and acted with moral courage and we will replace those who violated their oath and betrayed their country. We will sustain our resistance to the abuses and atrocities that we cannot tolerate from this Administration. We will be vigilant in securing free and fair elections. We will combat rising white nationalism and fascism. We will sound the alarm as Trump strives to expand his authority. Just as past Americans came together to defeat kings and Jim Crow, we will unite to make this country what it should be: a government of, by, and for the people.”