On Tuesday, Cassidy Hutchinson, a top aide to former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, presented explosive testimony before the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection. She demonstrated further that Donald Trump was at the center of a seditious conspiracy to use violent and other illegal means to subvert our democracy and retain power.

Hutchinson told the January 6th Select Committee that Trump ordered the removal of metal detectors to allow his armed supporters access to White House grounds, knowing that he would be inciting them to attack the Capitol, attempted to join his fellow insurrectionists at the Capitol by personally assaulting a Secret Service agent, explicitly refused to take action to stop the violence that he knew was underway at the Capitol, and even suggested Vice President Mike Pence “deserved” assassination for failing to aid Trump’s efforts to subvert the election. As more details come to light and others are set to testify, Trump’s cronies are intimidating witnesses, telling them to stay “loyal” and that “Trump reads the transcripts.”

We cannot allow Trump and other insurrectionists to get away with nearly toppling our democracy and trampling on the rule of law. There is constitutional recourse to protect the republic. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment disqualifies from public office any individual who has taken an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and then engages in insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or has given aid or comfort to those who have. Free Speech For People has been at the forefront of the campaign to hold Trump and his insurrectionist allies accountable under Section 3 by barring them from the ballot.

It is precisely events like those on and around January 6th for which Section 3 was intended. It is meant to guarantee that the United States will not permit violent insurrections to interfere with the democratic will of the people or the peaceful transfer of power.

Attorney General Merrick Garland’s failure over the past 18 months to indict Donald Trump for a slew of serious federal crimes is inexcusable. For years, Donald Trump and his associates have engaged in criminal activity. This includes his obstruction of justice (see the Mueller report), his conspiracy to defraud the United States through secret hush-money payments in the 2016 election (for which his former attorney Michael Cohen pled guilty and spent time in federal prison), his misuse of the presidency for personal profit, and offenses related to the Trump Organization, including tax fraud, bank fraud, or insurance fraud, as well as other potential crimes. Garland has yet to hold Trump accountable for any of that since becoming Attorney General of the United States. And, eighteen months after the January 6th insurrection, as Trump prepares to announce his candidacy again for president, Garland has yet to hold Trump accountable for the multiple federal crimes he committed in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election and stop the peaceful transition of power.

Trump was the insurrectionist-in-chief.  The evidence was there before Cassidy Hutchinson testified before Congress. Now, his role is all the more clear. Every chief election official across the country must declare that Trump is disqualified under Section 3 of the 14th amendment from appearing on their state ballot for any future public office. And the US Department of Justice must hold Trump accountable to the fullest extent of the law.