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(Washington) --- Americans know an authentic hero when they see one. More than 316,006 people sent letters to the White House supporting Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and condemning the act of retribution by President Donald Trump. Fresh from his impeachment “show trial” acquittal, where Republicans refused to hear first-hand from witnesses and new evidence, Trump purged Vindman out of his post in the White House at the National Security Council in one of the first visible moves of what unchecked power looks like. Trump has continued  a combination of revenge and purity purges removing many long-serving and faithful government professionals who dares to stand in his way and stand up for the rule of law.

“The Attorney General is and has always been the attorney for our nation—the United States—not the President’s attorney. But Attorney General Barr has made clear that, first and foremost, he serves President Donald Trump’s personal and political interests and not the interests of the United States. Barr has failed to faithfully execute the most basic duty of his office. This is not how justice works in the United States. The American people expect and deserve better."

Americans deserved the truth, but they got a ham-handed coverup instead. The Republican majority in the United States Senate denied the American people the truth and violated their oaths of office in a fruitless attempt to sweep Donald Trump’s illegal acts under the rug. In a cowardly and disgraceful final act to their show trial, Senate Republicans – with the notable exception of Mitt Romney - buried their heads in the sand and voted to condone President Trump’s blatant abuse of the powers of the presidency. Make no mistake about it, this was nothing more than an attempted partisan coverup for the shameless and illegal conduct of Donald Trump.

Americans deserve the truth and they deserve to hear from witnesses in the impeachment trial. The Republican Senate majority has cynically ignored overwhelming public support for witness testimony. Nationwide, support for witnesses has risen as more and more details have come out about President Trump’s shameful and illegal conduct in withholding vital military aid to Ukraine in order to coerce our endangered ally into launching an unfounded investigation to smear Trump’s political rival Joe Biden. Recent polls from Monmouth and Quinnipiac found 75% of Americans want to hear from witnesses – including 49% of Republicans, 75% of independents and 95% of Democrats.

Today, Common Cause strongly urged the United States Senate to obey the will of the people and vote for the motion to allow future votes on witnesses and evidence in President Trump’s impeachment trial. In a letter to every Senator, Common Cause emphasized that the American people expect and deserve a fair impeachment trial – not a show trial to excuse the abuses of office which led to the impeachment of President Trump.

Americans expect and deserve to hear from witnesses in Donald Trump’s impeachment Trial. The latest revelations that former Trump national security advisor John Bolton can provide direct evidence to expose President Trump’s lies about withholding critical military aide to Ukraine hammer home the need for the Senate to call witnesses. These new details add to a growing mountain of evidence that the President withheld the aide for his personal political gain, lied about it, and had his entire administration stonewall in an attempt to cover it up.