An imminent threat

To the editor:

Now, for the first time in American history, Congress has referred a former president for criminal prosecution by the Justice Department. By comparison, when President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, the stakes were so much lower that there is no comparison. Nixon no longer had any power, and he no longer posed any threat to the nation. President Ford didn’t want to spend his presidency focusing on Nixon’s crimes. Nixon was disgraced even by most Republican members of Congress. 

The situation with Donald Trump is dramatically different. He and his treasonous followers, many in Congress, pose an imminent threat to our democracy. It is vitally important to recommend charging Trump with the crimes that have been uncovered by the January 6 Committee in order to save our nation, our democracy and our Constitution. Those crimes include inciting an insurrection and fomenting violence, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and obstruction of an act of Congress. 

As Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo) said on the last day of the Committee’s investigation, Trump is unfit for any office, and is the only president in American history who did not honor the peaceful transfer of power after a presidential election. She added that the most shameful of Trump’s actions proven by the January 6 Committee was that Trump sat in the White House watching the mob storm the Capitol on TV on Jan. 6, 2021, and did not intervene to call off the siege. 

Hopefully, the Justice Department, led by Merrick Garland, will follow the recommendations of the January 6 Committee and prosecute Trump for crimes, especially inciting an insurrection, attempting to overturn an election by criminal means, and the obstruction of Congress in his refusal to cooperate with the investigation into his theft of classified documents which he kept in Mar-a-Lago and other places. 

If Merrick Garland and the Justice Department don’t seek to prosecute for the most serious crimes, the American people will see that justice is not blind, and the rich and powerful will usually get a pass — even when they continue their misconduct and criminal behavior which in this case threatens our democracy. 

Michael J. Gorman