The Washington Post reports (in an article also published in the Press Herald) that the man who is temping as our chief law enforcement officer, acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, has received $1.2 million over three years as the only employee of a so-called charity whose sole purpose was to advance a right-wing agenda.

Like many of my fellow citizens, I imagine, I am puzzled as to how this could possibly constitute charitable activity in the accepted meaning of the term.

Before he became acting attorney general, Mr. Whitaker expressed opposition to Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference into the 2016 elections. As acting attorney general, he now supervises the inquiry, suggesting that it could be starved of funds to operate.

Many Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Susan Collins, have given lip service to Mueller’s investigation, but Sen. Collins has so far been unwilling to take effective action to bring legislation to a vote in the Senate protecting Mueller, even though she knows it would pass overwhelmingly. Why not? With a partisan hack now running the Justice Department, will she not act before a full-blown constitutional crisis is upon us?

Laurence Pope

Portland