Chip Coldiron on Republican Cover-ups of COVID-19 and Rep. Jim Banks’ Complicity

Chip Coldiron, the Democratic nominee for U.S. House in Indiana’s 3rd District and Afghanistan Veteran issued the following statement in response to the Woodward tapes, DHS whistleblower, and Rep. Banks’s complicity in covering up for Administration failures and the spread of false information regarding COVID-19:

“At some point we have to hold our leaders accountable. While it feels like we have spent four years mourning the loss of basic decency and American leadership, today must stand apart as a unique moment in our history. Today we learned that what we may have cast aside as common incompetence, or simply a failure to realize the seriousness of the crisis, has in fact been a deliberate decision to sacrifice American lives and livelihoods in hopes of holding onto political power.

Where do you start with a day like today?

Tapes were released by Bob Woodward in which President Trump openly admits to lying to the American people about the dangers of COVID-19. He stood behind the seal of the White House and all that office represents and told Americans “It’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.” Yet he was calling this virus, in on the record interviews with Woodward, “more deadly than even your strenuous flu.” He and his allies have fought quarantine restrictions and mask mandates, even though he knew in February that the disease was airborne.

This isn’t the first time that Donald Trump lied to the American people. What is equally dangerous, however, is representatives in Congress silently enabling his lies to the American people more than 10,000 times. People like Representative Jim Banks have either sat by and watched, or amplified those lies by declaring them truth. The behavior of Representative Banks, an active choice to ignore a reality he was well aware of, has prevented him from doing his job. It has kept him from protecting his constituents, upholding the Constitution, and providing a system of checks and balances against a President and Administration that has beyond doubt failed in their duties to the American people.

Yet these lies are not the only ones to come to light today. In a 24-page whistleblower report to Congress, lifelong public servant and intelligence professional, Brian Murphy, alleges that the Trump Administration, in cooperation with Chad Wolf, Kirstjen Nielsen, and other top DHS brass, conspired to hide the truth of Russian involvement in our electoral systems because the reports “made the President look bad.” They ordered intelligence reports to downplay the threat of violence from white supremacist terror organizations and play up “left-wing” violence because of how it would reflect on the President. 

Our leaders and administration officials swear a duty to protect and defend the American people, and our Constitution. They are duty-bound to keep the American people safe. 

For our government to do that job effectively, Americans must have faith in the apparatus that protects us from foreign and domestic threats. They must have faith that the apparatus exists to protect us, to ensure every American voice is heard, and is not manipulated to ensure the electoral interests of political leaders. The actions from our leaders in Washington today undermine that faith, undermine national security, put American lives and democracy at risk, and in the case of COVID-19, have cost 200,000 lives and forever changed the lives of millions more. 

Representative Banks, through the choices he has made, his actions, and his selective inaction, has failed our country, our state, his constituents, and the oath he swore when he was elected. He is complicit in the damage that has been done to American integrity and safety. He has brazenly put his career ahead of American lives, national security, science, and public health. 

The stakes of the decisions he makes could not be higher, and he lacks the seriousness required to live up to his oath, and at worse has actively co-opted the role he plays in American life for personal gain.

As a career public servant, as a public school teacher, as a veteran, and as a husband, father, and neighbor, I do not take this lightly. I believe in an America that can fight its way out of this crisis, but it will require electing leaders who truly understand how the decisions Congress makes impact people’s daily lives. And it will require each and every one of us to come together and make it happen. Together, we make the change we seek and find the path back to decent and accountable leadership that takes its commitment to service seriously. I am committed to being that leader, and we desperately need it in Northeast Indiana.”