WASHINGTON — Rep. Jamaal Bowman will vote to impeach President Trump on Wednesday, supporting the bipartisan House resolution charging Trump with incitement of insurrection following last Wednesday’s attack on the U.S. Capitol. Rep. Bowman released the following statement ahead of the vote:
“President Trump has spent his tenure as an existential threat, and now he has incited an act of war that attempted to destabilize our democracy and murder legislators. He was never fit to be president. He must be removed immediately.
“Donald Trump led an angry and violent mob, who were armed with handcuffs and guns to kidnap and execute Members of Congress, towards the seat of the United States government. The Republican Party continues to make excuses for his seditious stoking of white supremacist violence and to urge the rest of us to pretend the attack last week didn’t happen. Impunity will only teach other aspiring fascists to be bolder next time. We must stand for a peaceful transition of power. We must stand for justice and accountability. Trump needs to be removed from office as quickly as possible and convicted by the Senate so that he is barred from ever again seeking high public office.
“But our mission after today is to remember that impeachment is only the beginning. White supremacy did not begin with Donald Trump. The hateful and violent ideology espoused by the mob who attempted the insurrection was not created by him. It is rooted deeply in our national history and identity, and it must be an urgent priority for all of us to dismantle the institutional and systemic racism that showed its ugly face on Capitol Hill last week. That includes a thorough investigation of why authorities who were responsible for defending Congress were unable or unwilling to do so.
“America claims to be a shining city on a hill. We will never realize that image while fascism, white nationalism, and oppression of working people continue to run rampant in our political, social, and economic systems. Impeaching Trump is a step forward. Let’s now continue the difficult work of building an exceptional country based on multiracial democracy — and of defending that possibility from those who wish to destroy it.”