As the Senate impeachment trial proceedings against ex-President Donald Trump moved forward, former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton issued a stark message to Republican Senators on Friday. The trial is over a charge of incitement of insurrection after a mob of Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol building, inflicting lethal injuries on a police officer and wounding many others. These rioters operated under the explicit pretense of Trump’s months of deranged lies about the 2020 presidential election, which he claimed was rigged for Joe Biden — but no matter the obvious link between the rhetoric and the violence, most Republican Senators have hesitated to even float the possibility of voting to convict Trump.
Clinton commented as follows, addressing the Senators:
‘Fulfill your oath. Convict him. Disqualify him from using the power of elected office to incite deadly insurrection again.’
Fulfill your oath.
Convict him.
Disqualify him from using the power of elected office to incite deadly insurrection again.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 12, 2021
There’s a complicating factor in the trial proceedings — a number of Republican Senators could be considered co-conspirators. Senators like Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley helped push the lie from the Senate that the security of the 2020 presidential election was an open question and cause for concern. Cruz called for a so-called audit of the election results — which is ridiculous, because in every single state, the results already underwent rigorous scrutiny at every meaningful level. Pretending like there’s a security gap seems purposefully ignorant. Nevertheless, Cruz and Hawley pushed this deception and voted against the certifications of some of Biden’s electoral votes during Congressional proceedings over the election.
Although other Republican Senators like Lindsey Graham didn’t vote against the certification of any of Biden’s electoral votes, they’re not exactly models of integrity or courage either. In a rambling Wednesday night appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox show, Graham called a preceding presentation from House impeachment case managers “offensive and absurd.” To be clear, the House impeachment managers presented evidence outlining the scope of the violence that unfolded at the Capitol on January 6. They shared documentation of the terror to which people at the Capitol were subjected as a mob explicitly operating under the pretext of Donald Trump’s rhetoric swarmed the building. Graham found this presentation “offensive and absurd.”
Check out Twitter’s response to Hillary’s message below:
