Harris calls for legal accountability for Republican efforts to undermine democracy

Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday called for legal consequences for the people responsible for attacks on the democratic process. Harris’ comments follow recent federal and state indictments against former President Donald Trump and his allies for attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

“I believe that people should be held accountable under the law. And when they break the law, there should be accountability, and I support it when it happens,” Harris said during an interview with the Associated Press at the ASEAN Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia. “Under our system of law, let the evidence and facts take it where it may.”

Trump is the only president in American history to be charged with criminal offenses.

He was federally indicted on Aug. 1 on four counts for his attempts to tip the 2020 election results in his favor following his loss to President Joe Biden.

“The attack on our nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy,” special counsel Jack Smith said while announcing the indictment. “As described in the indictment, it was fueled by lies. Lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the U.S. government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election.”

Trump was later indicted on Aug. 14 by a grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, on 41 state charges. Trump was charged for his role in unsuccessfully attempting to convince state officials to award Georgia’s electoral votes to him, even though Biden won the popular vote. Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and lawyer Rudy Giuliani were also charged, along with sixteen other people.

Additionally, Trump was indicted in New York earlier this year for hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, and he is facing federal charges for mishandling classified documents after leaving the presidency.

Trump was also impeached in January 2021 for “incitement of insurrection” following his call to supporters on Jan. 6 to “fight like hell” to overturn his loss in the election. A majority of the Senate voted for his removal from office, but the vote did not reach the two-thirds majority required for passage.

The vote marked the second time Trump was impeached while in office, and he is the only president to have faced multiple impeachment trials.

Trump is not the only person who has faced legal consequences related to attempts to overturn election results.

Leaders of the Proud Boys, designated a hate group by extremism watchdog the Southern Poverty Law Center, were recently convicted of federal charges of seditious conspiracy to overturn the election results. Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison for planning and orchestrating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and Joe Biggs was sentenced to 17 years for serving as an instigator and leader of the attack.

During the first presidential debate in 2020, Trump was asked by Biden to condemn the Proud Boys for previous acts of violence. Instead, Trump said, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.” Trump was widely criticized for supporting the group’s stance in favor of physical violence to attain its political goals. Biden later called Trump’s comments a “clarion call” to white supremacists.

Biden has repeatedly criticized attacks on democracy and the electoral process and attempts by Republicans to deny the results of elections.

“Democrats, independents, mainstream Republicans: We must be stronger, more determined, and more committed to saving American democracy than MAGA Republicans are to destroying American democracy,” Biden said in remarks delivered in September 2022 in Philadelphia. “We, the people, will not let anyone or anything tear us apart.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.