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Official Statement from Mormon Women for Ethical Government on the Vote to Acquit the Former President
Today, 43 U.S. senators chose to acquit the former president from any responsibility for the assault on the U.S. Capitol and on members of Congress. This violence on January 6, 2021, marked the culmination of a months-long attack on our system of elections by former President Donald J. Trump. His behavior was highly undemocratic and unethical. Unfortunately, he was joined by others who, through falsehoods, also attacked the integrity of our elections. Today, many who voted to acquit the former president did so in order to acquit themselves. For many months and years they had aligned themselves with his anti-democratic behavior. In the end, they were no longer able to…
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Call to Action: Request the Former President Be Held Accountable
After his election defeat, former President Trump lied about the election, repeatedly and with the direct intent to undermine legitimate results and maintain power. The result was not only a horrific attack on our nation’s Capitol building and the deaths and injuries of close to 150 people, but the undermining of American democracy using a big lie as a tool. We expect accountability from the former president just as from the individual citizens who stormed the Capitol. We cannot move toward a more secure future without first recognizing the truth of recent events — and demanding that accountability should stem from that truth. To do: Contact your senators to let…
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Returning to the Supreme Court: Trump v. Vance and Questions of Presidential Immunity
In July, the Supreme Court issued a decision — Trump v. Vance — on the topic of presidential immunity. In it, a 7-2 vote by the Supreme Court affirmed the long-recognized principle that a sitting president is not above the law but is subject to investigation for criminal conduct and the demand for subpoenas in such an investigation. The Court did leave open the possibility of contesting the subpoenas on more specific terms, which President Trump has done. A lower court ruling was issued on this on October 6, 2020, and the case may return to the Supreme Court. This article will provide a summary of the Supreme Court opinions…
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Nonsensical: Withdrawing from WHO in the Middle of COVID-19
The World Health Organization (WHO), the leading global health agency, declared COVID-19 a pandemic in March 2020, and within weeks the world had seen more than half a million people infected and nearly 30,000 dead. Infections in the U.S. continue to rise. Yet President Trump has formally notified the United Nations that the U.S. will withdraw from the WHO, bringing its U.S. funding to a halt. The U.S. is, by far, the largest contributor to the WHO’s budget. Trump had initially demanded some changes after accusing the WHO of being both China-centric and slow in its coronavirus response — somewhat validly. However, he didn’t get the response he wanted, so…
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Who’s WHO — and Why You Should Care
As we near 3.5 million cases of the coronavirus and surpass 135,000 deaths, President Donald J. Trump has formally withdrawn the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO). The withdrawal comes on the heels of the president freezing funding to the WHO in April 2020. The U.S. contributes upwards of $400 million annually to the WHO and is the group’s largest contributor (though even before the freeze the U.S. was close to $200 million in arrears to the organization). The claims Trump has made to justify the withdrawal — including that the WHO failed to share information in a timely and transparent manner, gave faulty information, and is too…
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Call to Action: Contact Your Elected Representatives About the Commutation of Roger Stone’s Sentence
On Friday, July 10, 2020, President Trump commuted the sentence of his longtime friend and advisor Roger Stone, who was convicted of federal crimes (seven felony counts, including obstructing a congressional investigation, tampering with a witness, and five counts of lying to Congress) and then sentenced to 40 months in prison. While this is within the legal bounds of the president’s powers, it is unethical and corrupt to abuse those powers to commute the sentence of someone convicted in an investigation into that president’s own campaign. To do: Contact your members of Congress and ask them to call out this latest action for the self-serving corruption it is. In less…
