WASHINGTON D.C - Elissa Slotkin held a tele-town hall on Tuesday, January 12th from her office in Washington D.C. to discuss the events that have happened in the past week.

The event went live at 6:30 pm to discuss where Congress will go moving forward. Rep. Slotkin also wanted to take the opportunity to provide an opportunity for people to ask questions, as well as the legislation that’s going to be considered in Washington over the next couple of days, including the impeachment proceedings for President Donald Trump due to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.

Rep. Slotkin had this to say about the attacks on the Capitol, “As I listened to the President’s speech as he addressed people in the protest and the weeks prior. I believe the President incited this and encouraged people to come and said it would be wild. Other speakers talked about trial by combat. A lot of language that was encouraging people to take matters into their own hands to change the results of the election and not have them certified. For me, who has taken the oath to protect and defend the Constitution over and over in my life in the CIA, the Pentagon, and now my life as a Congresswoman has really struck me to my core. The President has violated that same oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. We cannot let politics meter out violence and that is a dangerous road. That just starts a process that is truly threatening to our democracy."

A vote that invokes the 25th Amendment took place later that night, and Congress urged Vice President Mike Pence to move and invoke that amendment, “If the President uses his voice to incite violence against another branch of government, it means he is not well,” Slotkin said. “This is the strongest measure that the House of Representatives and that Congress can take, and feels that this can’t go unanswered, and just tolerate it as American inciting violence within our own government. And the timing couldn’t be worse with the inauguration of our new President next week. It is unprecedented to seek impeachment with so little time left and I could not accept the idea that with such a historic event with the visual of the U.S Capitol being attacked and we cannot go beyond this point without some accountability.”

While Slotkin believes the vote will be bipartisan, she is also concerned that the impeachment could lead to further division and create more tension. “When someone does something bad in normal life, you don’t get to choose whether to be held accountable because the timing is bad. You have to send that signal for history, and our kids. As a national security professional, what happened at the Capitol was a generational event and kicked off a different era in our national security and feels the greatest threat to American national security is the division between us.”

Rep. Slotkin thanked everyone who participated in the tele-town hall event and knows America is at an intense moment in history, “In the 8th District we have a politically diverse community and cannot hold back accountability because of fear of the lawless people who attacked and terrorized people at the Capitol. We and our democracy have to be stronger than that. I am proud everyday to represent Michigan’s 8th District, even if we have different views, the majority of us would never wish each other harm. We have quite a bit of work to do to heal to figure out how we as Americans come together.”