Coats, others have failed in duties

To the editor:

What a shame.

I have closely followed both state and national politics since I was a 12-year-old boy who met and shook hands with then-Sen. Richard Lugar. I’ve often wondered how Lugar would handle some of these trying situations if he were still in office.

I’ve got to admit I’ve had no faith in Mike Pence from the onset of his vice presidency as I know he and President Donald Trump are one and the same.

But I did have one final hope in someone who might step back on the national stage and represent Indiana with dignity and integrity. That hope was lost last week in one fell swoop when our own former Sen. Dan Coats stood before the United States Senate and said flat out he does not believe the American people have a right to know whether Trump asked him to tamp down or otherwise intervene in the Russia investigation. What a shame.

A mere hour later the Senate Intelligence Committee released the written version of what former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony would be. What an incredible and stark difference as Comey laid out in great detail Trump’s repeated and ongoing efforts to have the FBI look away from Michael Flynn.

Comey is a man of great integrity whose entire career in public service was abruptly ended by Trump. Coats clearly couldn’t care less about the public and only serves the very man who ended Comey’s career in an attempt to stall, if not stop, this very investigation — or at least so far as it touches Michael Flynn — and his integrity is clearly questionable at best given he just so nonchalantly went back on his sworn oath to Congress to tell the whole truth on this issue.

The bipartisan outrage over Coats and National Security Agency director Mike Rogers snubbing their noses at last week’s hearing was noticeable. Sen. Marco Rubio and other Republicans who put country over party should be commended. I can assure you that in the end the majority of Americans will greatly appreciate your efforts of fighting for the truth and you will certainly be far better served by doing just that rather than holding your breath while latched on to a sinking ship.

With that said, however, we now have facts coming to light that far outweigh those for obstruction of justice in Watergate, but through all these hearings and the bombshell testimony they produce I simply do not see Republicans as a whole having the backbone to initiate impeachment proceedings no matter what, in effect allowing a crime without a prosecution. Only one man might possibly change that — Special Counsel Robert Mueller. If he represents in his findings to Congress that the president did in fact obstruct justice, Trump should be impeached. Then and only then might they feel compelled to act on the evidence.

One more sad reality in all of this being overlooked are the sanctions on Russia. Its conduct was incredibly successful, not only in getting Trump elected but creating such discord in our democracy. As it stands, the sole thing we can rest assured of is that they are coming back, that Russia is going to mess with our elections again.

Mr. Rogers, Mr. Coats, you are both spineless, gutless cowards. Mr. Trump discounts incredible, tenacious reporting as merely fake news.

But it is the very conduct and contempt of the three of you that reminds us all why Thomas Jefferson’s famous quote — the creed of The CR — is so vitally important now more than ever:

“Were it left for me to decide whether we should have government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate to prefer the latter.”

While people like to scapegoat the media, I ask everyone to understand the importance of Jefferson’s statement. As our president believes he can do as he damn well pleases and neither he nor his cronies should have to answer to anyone, I implore our congressmen to keep pushing and the media, reporters, investigative journalists and such to continue digging for the truth.

Larry Best Jr.

Bunker Hill