January 8, 2021 letter from LWVUS Board President Deborah Ann Turner
Last night, the full LWVUS and LWVEF boards met to consider the events of this week and unanimously voted to call for the removal of President Trump from the office of the president.
And this afternoon, we issued an action alert for people to call their senators and ask them to support impeachment.
This was an unprecedented decision for our organization. As a respected, 100-year-old nonpartisan institution, the League’s action represents the grave and extraordinary nature of this moment in history. The world we live in is fundamentally different after the events of January 6.
Donald Trump showed himself to be a dangerous agitator with the power and will to upend our democracy by force. He is a threat to our republic and to our national security.
We know that this decision will be controversial, but this moment in history demands we protect and defend our democracy. We cannot stand silent as the actions of President Trump this week have demonstrated he is unfit for office. We will not endure the next two weeks and the potential for further damage to our democracy and the world. It is time to remove him from office by any legal means possible, which is why LWVUS supports both impeachment and the 25th Amendment as viable options to ensure safety of Americans and preservation of our republic.
The statement we issued this morning was not a partisan one. As we made clear in the statement, we support the processes that would remove Donald Trump and install Mike Pence as president for the remainder of the term. On January 21, we are hosting a webinar how our nonpartisan and DEI policies intersect and how to navigate them during hyper-partisan times. We welcome everyone to attend.
All of you, our members across the country and around the world, have joined this organization because you believe in the power of women to create a more perfect democracy. Today, we ask you to stand together in this decision to defend democracy as we have for 100 years.
In solidarity,
Dr. Deborah Ann Turner
Board President, LWVUS
