Paul Ackerman sets up a straw man to attack in asking, “Is the Current Special Counsel Investigation Comparable to Watergate?” (Dec. 27). And in attacking that straw man he fires off a number of misstatements and slurs.

No, the current Special Counsel investigation is not Watergate. It is a quite different, serious investigation. The Watergate investigation showed conclusively that one Republican candidate broke laws and told lies in the 1972 election. The current Special Counsel is investigating whether a different Republican candidate broke laws and told lies in the 2016 election.

Ackerman nowhere acknowledges the beginning of this investigation: the joint finding by several federal intelligence agencies that the Russian government engaged in electoral interference during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. That finding should disturb us all and make us eager to know all that we can about who else cooperated with or encouraged the Russians. The focus of the Special Counsel investigation is to investigate “ any links and/ or coordination between Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump.”

Ackerman characterizes the work of the Special Prosecutor as a “ steady stream of innuendo through leaks from anonymous — and mostly wrong — sources so far.” This is untrue and a smear on the Special Prosecutor. His investigation has been virtually free of leaks, and he has made no public statements of his findings. Robert Mueller has behaved with a high degree of integrity and professionalism — notwithstanding Mr. Ackerman’s slurs and innuendos.

Ackerman denies the investigation has learned of any Russian connection to the Trump campaign. That, too, is a lie. The Special Prosecutor has obtained guilty pleas and indictments of Trump campaign officials. And from responsible journalists we have learned that several Trump campaign officials ( Manafort, Sessions, Trump Jr., Kushner, others) failed to disclose meetings with Russians before the election and in its immediate aftermath. What they were hiding we have yet to learn. The Special Prosecutor is seeking to learn.

There is plenty of reason to continue the investigation. We know the Russians tried to interfere with the 2016 election. We need to know whether anyone in the Trump campaign encouraged or assisted them.

Doug Bennett is President Emeritus, Earlham College and a Topsham resident.