Following Assault on U.S. Capitol, Brady Calls for President Trump and Those Who Have Undermined Faith in Our Democracy to Denounce Violent Insurrection

“THE DIRECT CORRELATION BETWEEN PRESIDENT TRUMP’S ACTIONS AND WORDS BOTH THROUGHOUT HIS PRESIDENCY AND TODAY ARE CLEAR. HE IS THE AUTHOR OF THIS ASSAULT ON OUR DEMOCRACY.”

Read our latest statement here, calling for the removal of President Donald Trump from office.

Washington, D.C., January 6, 2021 - Brady condemns in the strongest terms the violent disruption of government proceedings at the U.S. Capitol today. Following the assault on the U.S. Capitol building, President Trump belatedly released a taped, tepid call for ‘peace’ while simultaneously stoking the violence by repeating false claims that the Presidential election was ‘stolen’. It is this same false claim stoking the actions of elected officials such as Sens. Hawley and Cruz and Reps. Gosar and Gohmert and their partners in the Senate and House, who have fueled public unrest through their efforts to delay certification of President-elect Biden’s victory. President Trump and Members of Congress falsely claiming a ‘stolen election’ must swiftly, publicly and decisively condemn the actions of these insurrectionists and end their assault on our democracy.

Today’s riot occurred with the sole purpose of disrupting the lawful certification of the 2020 election, when the President’s supporters, many of them armed and encouraged to violate local laws and bring weapons by organizers, marched to the Capitol following a speech motivating insurrectionism by the President of the United States. This was an attempted coup and a horrific but logical endpoint to President Trump’s years-long embrace of dangerous, insurrectionist rhetoric, which is inextricably tied to a twisted conceptualization of the Second Amendment, and his effort to undermine the legitimacy of the 2020 election. President Trump has endangered the lives of members of Congress and their staff by inciting this angry mob. He and the members of Congress who knowingly supported his falsehoods about the 2020 election own these repercussions and must work to repair the damage they have done to our democracy. They can begin by decrying the actions of these rioters and publicly endorsing the validity and security of our elections as over 60 courts across the country and every state legislature already has.

Brady President Kris Brown shared:

“Today is a dark day for our republic as a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol building and disrupted lawful, congressional proceedings. They have done so, frankly, at the behest of the President of the United States and in violation of the foundational ideals of our country.

These actions of domestic terrorism and insurrectionism have been emboldened by a gun lobby that has claimed for decades that ‘the guys with the guns make the rules.’ These events are the logical conclusion in a series of events that have happened under this President’s watch and guidance. Insurrectionist protests have similarly occurred today at state capitols in New Mexico, in Georgia, where armed election conspiracy-theorists forced police to evacuate the Secretary of State, and in Michigan, where an armed mob stormed the statehouse over the summer and later domestic terrorists were apprehended for planning to kidnap and execute Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

These forces are inextricably linked with rhetoric surrounding the Second Amendment and a false belief that the Second Amendment enshrines a right to take up arms against government officials that hold opposing political views. This belief has been promoted by the gun lobby for far too long and has found avid support in President Trump as he has stirred up false accusations of rigged elections and conspiracy.

President Trump has nourished these beliefs and encouraged these actions. On a Presidential Debate stage, when asked to denounce the Proud Boys, he famously told them to “stand back and stand by.” Today, he told this crowd that he would never concede and would “never give up,” before he encouraged the crowd to move to the Capitol where their actions turned violent. The direct correlation between President Trump’s actions and words both throughout his Presidency and today are clear. He is the author of this assault on our democracy.

Elected officials who are Trump’s enablers and have aided and abetted the President in his actions share responsibility for today’s violence, as well. These representatives were sworn to office to uphold the constitution and protect our democracy but have absconded their responsibilities and instead undermined the very institutions that they were elected to serve. The senators and congressional representatives who challenged today’s proceedings and lied to the American public to sow doubt in the integrity of our democracy must now work immediately to rectify this damage, cease efforts to cast question about the certification of President-elect Biden’s victory and call for the full prosecution of the violent individuals responsible for this attempted coup.

The President has often billed himself as the ‘law and order’ candidate. He has violated both the law and the order of our democracy. There must be repercussions for those who assaulted the Capitol today, and for all those who stoked and enabled it.”