FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 14, 2021
Contact: Ben Schneider, bschneider@edf.org, 202-572-3279
Statement from Defend Our Future
Watching events unfold over this past week have been shocking, if sadly unsurprising. It has been the culmination of five years of lies, division, and the prioritization of personal and party loyalty over truth, science, objective facts and fidelity to the constitution, culminating in a violent and deadly insurrection at the US Capitol, and followed by an attempt by a large number of Republican lawmakers to invalidate the results of a free and fair election.
Despite this unprecedented and shameful assault on our democracy, some in Congress have already begun to call for us to move on, so the nation can unify and heal. But healing and unity cannot come without justice, and justice cannot come without accountability. For inciting a violent mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol after months of lies about the results of the election, Donald Trump has shown he has no intention of upholding his oath to defend the Constitution, and he must go. If he had any decency, he would resign immediately, and we at Defend Our Future call on him to do so.
His enablers in Congress must also be held accountable. For that reason, Defend Our Future will no longer partner with or support any of the 147 lawmakers who participated in this attack on our country.
We continue to believe that bipartisanship is central to a functioning democracy, and remain committed to working with elected officials from across the political spectrum to find solutions to the climate crisis and make real, lasting change. But we will not compromise on our values to do so.
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Defend Our Future, a project of the Environmental Defense Fund, is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to empowering young people of all political persuasions who are interested in advancing climate change and clean energy solutions that grow our economy and protect the world for future generations. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
