U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) released a statement following the Feb. 13 acquittal of former President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial.

“At the outset of the trial, my brilliant colleague and the lead House manager, [U.S. Rep.] Jamie Raskin [D-Md.], quoted from a Capitol Police officer who defended the Congress against the violent mob and failed insurrection on Jan. 6. After watching marauders with Confederate flags and Auschwitz T-Shirts who hurled racial epithets at him, he asked, plaintively, ‘Is this America?’

“A majority of the senators voted guilty, 57 senators, and answered that question: no it is not, at least, it is not the America we aspire to be. But in the vote to acquit by the other 43, in the branch of government meant to protect us from a dangerous demagogue who would be king, we can see that a lack of political courage by one party alone is the biggest impediment to achieving our aspirations as a nation.

“It has been observed by many that the vote in the second impeachment trial, like the first, would have been different if done in secret and by secret ballot. This is no doubt true, but a vote of such consequence without accountability is not how a democracy must function. Rather, it is a demonstration of how much this vote reflected not the weight of the evidence or what the constitution requires, but political cowardice.

“House managers demonstrated overwhelmingly, through a case that was methodical, seamless and incontrovertible, that Donald Trump incited an insurrection to stop the joint session of Congress in a last-ditch effort to hold onto power … 

“So where does that leave us, at the conclusion of Donald J. Trump’s second impeachment trial? It leaves us with a Republican party that is still in his thrall, still subject to his whim and still intimidated into his service, more cult of his personality and his conspiracies than home for any ideas or ideology. American democracy has always depended on two functional parties, but for the foreseeable future, we will have only one.

“And yet we press on. The work is too important, a virus still plagues us, families are still suffering and they urgently need our help. But the work of shoring up our democracy is more vital than ever. Brick by brick, we must strengthen its foundation with reforms that protect the independence of our justice system, restore congressional oversight, protect against abuse of the presidential power, in short, by enacting into law norms that we thought were inviolate, but were violated and with impunity.

“Even with the result today, we must not lose hope or belief in this country. America was built by those we dared to believe in something never done before, a government of its people, and capable of making itself into a more perfect union. It will be rebuilt with the same faith.”