- More than 370 Capitol Hill staffers signed an open letter to senators asking them to convict Trump.
- This request stems from Trump's "role in inciting the violent attack at the Capitol," per the letter.
- "For our sake, and the sake of the country, we ask that they vote to convict the former president and bar him from ever holding office again," they wrote.
More than 370 Capitol Hill staffers signed a letter Wednesday asking US senators to convict former President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial.
"On January 6, 2021, our workplace was attacked by a violent mob trying to stop the electoral college vote count," the letter, which was signed by predominantly Democratic staffers, said. "That mob was incited by former president Donald J. Trump and his political allies, some of whom we pass every day in the hallways at work."
The letter went on to say that many of its signatories went to school after the deadly Columbine High School massacre in Colorado in 1999 "and were trained to respond to active shooter situations in our classrooms."
"As the mob smashed through Capitol Police barricades, broke doors and windows, and charged into the Capitol with body armor and weapons, many of us hid behind chairs and under desks or barricaded ourselves in offices. Others watched on TV and frantically tried to reach bosses and colleagues as they fled for their lives," the letter said.
The staffers faulted Trump for violating the US's "legacy" of the peaceful transfer of power by egging his supporters to march on the Capitol and block Congress from formalizing Biden's victory. The resulting insurrection led to six deaths.
"A Capitol Police officer - one of our co-workers who guards and greets us every day - was beaten to death," the letter said, referring to Brian Sicknick, who died from brain injuries sustained after Trump supporters beat him with a fire extinguisher.
For months leading up to his January 6 rally during which he told his base to "fight like hell" against the election results, Trump promoted wild and unhinged conspiracy theories alleging that Democrats colluded with voting-machine companies and dead Communist dictators to "steal" the general election.
None of the claims have any merit, and a number of Trump-aligned media entities who peddled those lies have been sued or were threatened with defamation lawsuits by Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic.
"The attack on our workplace was inspired by lies told by the former president and others about the results of the election in a baseless, months-long effort to reject votes lawfully cast by the American people," the letter said, adding that the US Constitution calls for a "shared commitment to equal justice, the rule of law, and the peaceful resolution of our differences."
"Any person who doesn't share these beliefs has no place representing the American people, now or in the future. The use of violence and lies to overturn an election is not worthy of debate," it went on to say. "Either you stand with the republic or against it."
The letter concluded: "As Congressional employees, we don't have a vote on whether to convict Donald J. Trump for his role in inciting the violent attack at the Capitol, but our Senators do. And for our sake, and the sake of the country, we ask that they vote to convict the former president and bar him from ever holding office again."
Oral arguments in Trump's Senate impeachment trial will kick off next week, and the House impeachment managers who will act as prosecutors in the trial, as well as Trump's defense team, submitted initial briefs on Tuesday.
A two-thirds majority is required to convict and potentially bar the former president from ever holding public office again. To reach that threshold, at least 17 Republicans would have to break ranks and side with Democrats in convicting Trump. But there's virtually no chance that will happen - indeed, 45 Senate Republicans voted last week to declare the trial itself unconstitutional, all but guaranteeing Trump's acquittal.