Letters to the Editor: GOP leaders help the coup by not participating in Jan. 6 investigations

To the editor: Columnist Harry Litman captures the essence of where America is today, which in my opinion is the precipice of a coup to overthrow our republic. (“Why the Jan. 6 hearings have a harder road ahead than the Watergate hearings ever did,” Opinion, June 9)

Litman points out that the Republican Party did not support or want to participate in an investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, nor does it accept the reality that there is no evidence of a fraudulent election. He also cites the non-cooperation of several witnesses, as urged by some Republicans.

I watched the Watergate hearings as a 31-year-old. Republicans and Democrats worked together to gather the truth and meaning of what happened during the Nixon administration. They acted for the good of the nation.

In contrast, what’s happening now is a scandal. As Litman writes, the Jan. 6 attack was “the most serious assault on democratic rule since the Civil War.”

The problem is this assault is not coming from the southern Confederacy, but from one of our two major political parties and most of its leaders. It is an attack from within, and in my view it will lead to the end of America.

Michael H. Miller, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Litman writes, “The Republican leadership chose from the start not to participate.” In fact, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) intended for Republicans to participate and selected five of his colleagues to sit on the committee.

In an unconscionable breach of protocol that even she admitted was unprecedented, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) rejected two of McCarthy’s choices. Instead, she hand-picked two Republicans.

It is Pelosi’s violation of more than 200 years of tradition that prompted the Republican leadership to refuse to participate any further. Her action is akin to the prosecuting attorney selecting the defense counsel in a criminal trial.

Pelosi’s behavior proves she wants a show trial where she has control over the investigators, the witnesses, the cameras and the coverage.

Robert Helbing, Monrovia