Title: Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the violent insurrection at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Policy area: Congress

Summary:
This resolution expresses the sense of Congress that President Donald Trump did knowingly and purposefully incite a violent and unlawful insurrection against the United States and that action should be taken to prosecute or sanction any individual who participated in or facilitated this insurrection, including Members of Congress. Further, the resolution urges the establishment of a commission to investigate all factors leading up to the breach of the U.S. Capitol and the Capitol Complex and to provide recommendations to prevent a similar event from occurring again.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 28 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 28

Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the violent insurrection at 
             the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 11, 2021

Mr. Espaillat submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
  the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on 
 Ethics, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
   each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the violent insurrection at 
             the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Whereas on the morning of January 6, 2021, President Donald J. Trump attended a 
        rally on the National Mall where he encouraged a crowd of individuals to 
        disrupt the proceedings of Congress to certify the votes of the 
        electoral college for President and Vice President of the United States, 
        stating that he himself would be in attendance;
Whereas certain Members of Congress issued statements directly calling on 
        individuals to resort to violence to intervene in the certification of 
        the votes of the electoral college in an attempt to overturn the results 
        of a valid, free, and fair election;
Whereas in the months leading up to and following the 2020 Presidential 
        election, President Donald J. Trump rigorously sowed discord, impaired 
        the operations of the United States Postal Service, promoted conspiracy 
        theories, and outright lied to the American public in order to reduce 
        confidence in the integrity of the election and disenfranchise voters;
Whereas in the days and weeks following media outlets' determination that Joseph 
        R. Biden, Jr., had secured the necessary number of electoral votes to be 
        declared President-elect, President Trump, his legal representatives, 
        and dozens of Republican Members of Congress and Senators deliberately 
        attempted to reverse the results of the election in various States and 
        to disenfranchise millions of voters by bringing forth frivolous 
        lawsuits at several levels of the United States judicial system;
Whereas due to an utter lack of evidence and legal standing, these lawsuits were 
        swiftly dismissed by dozens of judges, including those nominated by 
        President Donald J. Trump and confirmed by the Senate;
Whereas following his decisive defeat in both the November Presidential election 
        and legal efforts that followed, President Donald J. Trump, alongside 
        more than 100 Republican Members of the House of Representatives and a 
        dozen Republican Senators, announced their intent to object to the 
        certification of the votes of certain States' electors perpetuating 
        baseless claims about the integrity of the election, and encouraged 
        their supporters to descend on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to ``stop 
        the steal'';
Whereas on the afternoon of January 6, 2021, a mob of thousands of domestic 
        terrorists and seditionists engaged in a sustained effort to bypass 
        United States Capitol Police and officers under direction of the 
        Sergeants at Arms of the House and Senate in order to delay and disrupt 
        Congress' constitutional and statutory duty of certifying the 2020 
        Presidential election results;
Whereas the responding officers from the Sergeants at Arms of the House and 
        Senate, United States Capitol Police, National Guard, and Metropolitan 
        Police Department of the District of Columbia were physically assaulted 
        and threatened with deadly weapons and firearms;
Whereas the security preparations by these and other law enforcement agencies 
        were inexplicably and dangerously inadequate to meet the clear and 
        present threat posed to Members of Congress and individuals in the line 
        of succession to the Presidency; and
Whereas as a result of this insurrection, two individuals were fatally wounded 
        in the United States Capitol and many others were severely injured: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) President Donald J. Trump did knowingly and 
        purposefully incite a violent and unlawful insurrection against 
        the United States;
            (2) any individual who participated in, aided, or abetted 
        the violent and unlawful insurrection at the United States 
        Capitol on January 6, 2021, should be prosecuted to the fullest 
        extent under the laws of the United States and be brought to 
        justice, and considered ineligible for civil or military office 
        under the United States pursuant to section 3 of the 14th 
        Amendment to the Constitution;
            (3) for any House Member, Delegate, or Resident 
        Commissioner who participated in, aided, or abetted this 
        violent insurrection, or through their public pronouncements 
        via official or unofficial channels encouraged it, the 
        Committee on Ethics of the House of Representatives should 
        initiate an investigation into whether such Member, Delegate, 
        or Resident Commissioner may have violated the Code of Official 
        Conduct set forth in rule XXIII of the Rules of the House of 
        Representatives and determine the appropriate sanction, up to 
        and including expulsion;
            (4) for any Senator who participated in, aided, or abetted 
        this violent insurrection, or through their public 
        pronouncements via official or unofficial channels encouraged 
        it, the Select Committee on Ethics of the Senate should conduct 
        a similar investigation and recommend similarly appropriate 
        sanctions; and
            (5) a commission should be established to investigate all 
        factors leading to the breach of the United States Capitol and 
        the Capitol Complex during this violent insurrection and to 
        provide recommendations to ensure no such events ever occur 
        again.
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