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On Wednesday, the U.S. Congress gathered, with Vice President Mike Pence presiding. The Constitution of the United States says that on Jan. 6, after a presidential election, Congress shall meet to count the electoral votes cast for the president and vice president of the United States. It is a solemn ritual of democracy — conducted in the grand halls of our Capitol, with the ballots in hand-tooled leather boxes. But it is only that — a ritual.

This ceremonial custom is not how our president and vice president are chosen. They are chosen by the people — voting state by state on the first Tuesday in November. And that custom, and the people who conduct it, good people though they may be, are not our democratic republic, and they are not our country.  

Yesterday was one of the darkest, most shameful days in our nation's history. Incited by the rhetoric of Donald Trump, domestic terrorists stormed the U.S. Capitol and threatened the lives of our nation's lawmakers, their staffs and the men and women who serve what President Elect Biden called "the citadel of liberty." This insurrection was directly incited by President Trump and his allies and they must be held accountable. This president has violated his oath to the nation to defend and protect our constitution. He must immediately be removed from office.