I think the Senate trial of the president’s impeachment should go very slowly to get much deeper into the facts. It is beginning to appear that there was collusion in planning the insurrection right up to top government officials who were in a position to make sure the capitol building was secure, but did not. Questions as to whether there was close communication between the President and members of Congress with participants in the riot needs to be rooted out in case the answers impact the evidence presented during the Senate trial.
If the Senate accepts the President Biden’s suggestion about working on the trial part-time, this will allow for events to unfold, leading to a more thorough presentation of the facts. It will also allow the Chief Justice, who will preside at the trial, to do his work at the Supreme Court.
All members of Congress who refused to do their constitutional duty to count the certified results submitted by the states as required by the Constitution should be censured and removed from office.
The new Justice Department head should move expeditiously to appoint an independent special counsel with a broad mandate to investigate every aspect of the insurrection, including any crime connected with people involved in the insurrection: whether there were any foreign actors, members of our own government (Congress or any of the law-enforcement agencies, right up to the administration) or conspirators who were not present. It does not appear that any government entity has not been infiltrated by domestic enemies.
I am not happy about the calls for unity. Unity is not in and of itself a virtue. The Republican Party unified around a very unethical, immoral personality, abandoning principles and even truth. Failure to prosecute people who clearly broke the law in a most egregious manner because it will cause further disunity is appeasement. It will further embolden the violent extremists and deny the justice that our government was created to ensure. Remember how Sen. Collins said, after voting not to remove Trump from office, that he had learned his lesson?
If there is to be unity, it can only be based on a commitment on all sides to the fundamental principles upon which our country was founded: the rule of law; that all persons are equal under the law and no one is above the law. Justice is the effect of the rule of law. There can be no unity on any other terms.
Unity also requires objective standards of truth. It is impossible to have a meeting of minds (unity) without agreement about what is true. Now more than ever, people in government must be held to a high standard and do their duty to uphold the constitution and laws, which provide the only proof of allegiance to our country.
Judith Truesdell is a resident of Shelburne.