To the Editor:
After reading the letter by Ms Scoles, I find myself compelled to try and put things into perspective. Ms Scoles is certainly entitled to her opinion and I respect her right to speak her mind, but there is a difference between opinion and fact. So let’s look at what she claims makes President Trump guilty of obstruction of congress. True he ordered his administration not to testify before the Impeachment committee. It’s called executive privilege and has been used by numerous presidents in the past. The latest event that triggered the use of executive privilege was the investigation of Fast & Furious. This was a government program initiated by the Obama administration to sell guns to Mexican drug cartels and track them. When a border patrol agent was killed by one of these weapons congress opened an investigation to find out what was going on. President Obama declared executive privilege and ordered Attorney General Eric Holder to refuse all requests for information. Things got so bad that congress voted to hold Eric Holder in Contempt of Congress for refusing to produce the documents subpoenaed. Should congress have voted to impeach President Obama for refusing to provide information to congress? The same thing happened during the Louise Lerner hearings. Remember she was the IRS supervisor who withheld none profit tax status to several Tea Party chapters attempting to organize. President Obama instructed the IRS not to provide information to congress. The constitution provides for three equal branches. Congress does not outrank the executive branch so there is no such thing as obstruction of congress. The congress has not identified a statute which President Trump is guilty of breaking. Unfortunately this whole Impeachment affair has been going on since the 2016 election when Democrats refused to accept that Trump had actually beaten their candidate.
David Johnson of Fillmore