Thank you, former Maine U.S. Senator William Cohen, for your May 29 column, “When will Republican silence on Trump end?”

As someone who helped craft the Office of Special Counsel legislation, Senator Cohen writes that Congress never intended to subcontract its investigative powers to the executive branch.  He notes that, with the exception of Representative Justin Amash, “Republicans have taken the position that Mueller’s redacted report has resolved all issues of alleged presidential collusion with the Russians and obstruction of justice… This is not a tenable position. The Mueller report has raised nearly as many questions as it has answered.”

At times like these, the health of our democracy requires that the principles on which our nation was founded come before partisan politics.  Congress as a co-equal branch of government, an independent judiciary, and equal justice under the law are bedrock principles of the United States Constitution.  And yet, President Trump continues to challenge these and other of our country’s fundamental tenets.

In short, this is Sen. Susan Collins’ time to demonstrate the courage that Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith did during the McCarthy era, and that then Representative William Cohen did during the Watergate era.

Todd F. Bachelder

Brunswick