Utah, I just got off the phone with Senator Lee.

In our call, I acknowledged that he has won reelection, and I told him that I truly hope that he upholds his oath to the Constitution during his upcoming term. 1/8 While tonight's results weren't what we hoped for, I can say with absolute confidence that we did something special here in Utah.

To all the Utahns who put party politics aside to join our cross-partisan coalition: I am so proud of what we built here. 2/8

I'm an independent—and I've made a promise to Utahns that I won't caucus with either party in the U.S. Senate.

My opponent is trying to paint that as a weakness.

But it's actually a strength for Utahns, and here's why👇

1/4 I will never bow down to party bosses: I know that senators elected by folks in Kentucky and New York don't know what's best for Utah.

By refusing to caucus with either party, I'm saying that I'll always put Utahns first. And isn't that the way it should be?

2/4

.@SenMikeLee has tried to downplay his central role in Trump’s coup attempt for MONTHS—and now he's started threatening to sue me in the hopes that I'll keep quiet ...

Well, his own words speak for themselves. Let’s take a look👇 Leading up to January 6th, Lee aligned himself with a number of the legal quacks (does Sidney Powell ring a bell?) surrounding Trump.

He worked tirelessly to help them find a way to discount Americans' votes and overturn American democracy.

BREAKING: In a historic move, Utah Democrats voted not to nominate a Senate candidate, choosing instead to join our coalition to defeat Mike Lee. I want to thank Utah Democrats for putting partisan allegiances aside and voting in support of our effort. The need to change our broken politics is so much bigger than our political differences.

.⁦@SenMikeLee⁩ has come out of hiding to spin his role in the plot to overturn the election. He says the situation was “more trickier,” than others. But the truth is that he pushed for fake electors, advised the WH on how to do it, and then hid it. deseret.com/2022/4/20/2303… .@SenMikeLee should answer these questions:
— When did you first learn of the plot?
— Why did you lie about it previously?
— Why did you think it was right to overrule the will of the people with fake electors?
— If you opposed the scheme, why didn’t you report it to the public?

I spent the weekend thinking about what we learned last week about @SenMikeLee: that he played an even more central role in plotting to overturn the republic than we knew, literally working overtime to make it happen with fake electors from key states and then lying about it. This is Mike Lee, the self-proclaimed “constitutional conservative” who, as a U.S. Senator, swore an oath to defend the Constitution and therefore bear on his shoulders the weight of 14 generations of innumerable American sacrifices that created the fragile liberty we now enjoy.

Moscow Mike is mischaracterizing the law to distract from the fact that he traveled to Russia and brazenly appeased Vladimir Putin for his own political gain. Now it's led to the deaths of innocent Ukrainians, the destabilization of Europe, and global economic uncertainty. Shame.

https://twitter.com/SenMikeLee/status/1497266229328891911

In 2019, Moscow denied visas to other senators of both parties, but welcomed Senator Lee. politico.com/story/2019/09/…

Putin's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine tonight is not only an assault on a peaceful neighbor, but an attack on the American-led world order that has kept the peace since WWII. With our allies, we must finally put in place crushing sanctions on Putin and his regime, supply Ukraine with equipment, training and intelligence necessary to inflict heavy loses on invading Russian forces, bolster our presence in Eastern Europe, and isolate Russia globally.

This news that Trump and his team were preparing to order the military to seize voting machines and conduct a review of the election with the support of other security and intelligence units is another wake up call about the threats facing our democracy. politico.com/news/2022/01/2… I've found myself saying this repeatedly for the last five years: this is the sort of thing I saw abroad as an undercover CIA officer and never imagined I'd see here in America. They didn't succeed in 2020, but anti-democracy forces in our country haven't given up.

Happy Monday to all! A few thoughts about why I'm running to represent Utah in the U.S. Senate and how we can win. Thread 👇🏻 America is in jeopardy, threatened by division, political extremism, and self-serving politicians. Mike Lee has become part of Washington's broken politics and, next year, Utahns will have the opportunity to replace him.

As we celebrate this historic moment in which millions of Americans stand together to uphold our democracy, I'd like to thank so many who have my deepest gratitude for their patriotic acts in the last four years: People from across the country who understood the threat of Trump and Trumpism and engaged civically like never before, giving of their time, resources and talents to the American cause;

A note to my fellow conservatives and Republicans: I hope you won’t view this electoral loss as setback, but rather as an opportunity to move forward and beyond the darkness of the last four years. Trumpism is an evil, destructive lie that has deceived many among us. Let us leave it in the past, recommit to our founding principles, and join other Americans in the fight for liberty and justice, contributing ideas supported by our values and fact to the national dialogue.

In the critical swing state of Arizona, over 700 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a key voter segment, have signed a @StandUpRepublic letter led by former Arizona state senator @bob_worsley opposing Trump's re-election. Thank you!kjzz.org/content/160930… Members of the Church in Arizona can read and add their names to the letter below. (If you know someone in AZ who'd be interested, please share this with them!) medium.com/@r4npaz/a-resp…

National Security Advisor O'Brien and DHS Secretary Wolf reportedly told DHS to stop producing intel assessments on Russia and shift the focus on election interference to China and Iran. Parts of our government have become a Moscow-enabling disinfo machine.washingtonpost.com/national-secur… This is obviously a problem because it provides government cover for Moscow's ongoing disinformation campaign to divide Americans and help Trump hold onto power, but also because it prevents the country from understanding the nature of Russia's attacks and responding accordingly.

Compassion is so vital to our nation because it strengthens our commitment to our founding principle that all are created equal. That principle is not only essential to accountable government, but also to effective governance because it facilitates knowledge and understanding. Without compassion for people, you don’t value them. And if you don’t value them, you don’t understand them. And if you don’t value or understand them, you can’t serve them. And when this is the condition of our leaders, the people suffer.

Sadly, the coronavirus is going to teach us the hard way why it's so important that our leaders respect and seek truth, and place serving the American people before their own interests. The alternative, as Trump is demonstrating, costs dearly in lives and economic security. Aspiring dictators prioritize their power and ill-gotten wealth above the people without moral limit or remorse, no matter how destructive for the countries they pretend to govern. This always puts them at odds with truth as they try to conceal their corruption and ineptitude.

Are we really going to have not one, but two Kremlin-backed major party nominees in 2020, America? One isn’t enough? We need to wake up! U.S. intel and Robert Mueller warned that the Kremlin has supported and continues to support Trump and Sanders. It’s also been obviously observable on social media for anyone paying attention. Both men have longstanding connections to and sympathies for Moscow. These are facts.

This is a list of 35 critical actions that we must take, and encourage others to take, in the defense of our democracy:

1. Vote in every election.

2. Donate to honorable candidates, parties and civic organizations.

3. Call and write to our representatives in Congress. 4. Meet with our local, state and federal elected leaders in person.

5. Read multiple, credible news and opinion sources daily.

6. Subscribe to varied, credible news sources.

7. Write op-eds and letters to the editor about issues of concern.

The intelligence community inspector general deemed a whistleblower complaint about a “promise” Trump made to a foreign power to be of such “urgent concern” that he informed Congress of the complaint’s existence himself rather than trust intelligence leaders to do so. Especially in light of the president’s well-established recklessness on intel matters, these actions by the whistleblower and the inspector general are extraordinary and suggest that Trump may have acted in egregious opposition to American interests even by his own low standards.

White supremacist terrorists like the El Paso killer are certainly inspired by the rhetoric of Trump and other elected Republicans because they use the same rhetoric to justify their attacks. They bear responsibility for these tragedies, but if we don’t vote them out so do we. Phrases in the El Paso killer’s manifesto:

“the Hispanic invasion”

Democrats “intend to use open borders, free healthcare for illegals, citizenship...to enact a political coup”

“The media is infamous for fake news”

“Send them back”

All common Trumpist Republican refrains.

Trump has made clear his intention to use racism as his 2020 campaign strategy. Are other Republican officials going to stay quiet or dance around the issue that whole time? How did defending such a basic American value — equality — become so hard for these guys? Seriously. When was the last time you heard a Republican official make a full-throated defense of equality? Our whole system of self-government is predicated upon the truth that we’re all of equal worth, yet they literally cannot even say that word.