Hundreds of congressional aides call for Trump's conviction in rare public statement

Hundreds of congressional aides have issued a rare public statement in which they call on the United States Senate to convict former President Donald Trump of inciting an insurrection.

The New York Times reports that 370 Democratic congressional aides on Wednesday issued a "starkly personal letter" in which they outlined the danger that the president put them in when he encouraged his supporters to march to the United States Capitol building on January 6th.

"As congressional employees, we don't have a vote on whether to convict Donald J. Trump for his role in inciting the violent attack at the Capitol, but our senators do," the aides write. "And for our sake, and the sake of the country, we ask that they vote to convict the former president and bar him from ever holding office again."

The members describe hiding in their offices as they watched angry Trump supporters storming into the building after being inspired by Trump's "baseless, monthslong effort to reject votes lawfully cast by the American people."

The Times reports that the aides sought out some of their Republican counterparts to sign onto the letter, but none of them ultimately decided to do so despite privately agreeing with the letter's substance.