Whether the attorney general chooses to restore the independence and integrity of the Department of Justice or not by charging the former president for inciting a deadly attack on the Capitol in a failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election and prevent the peaceful transfer of power, Merrick Garland’s actions will mark a life-changing crossroad for our republic.

The morning after the election in November 2020, Donald Trump, instead of conceding an election he lost by 7 million votes, strolled to the mike and did what he does best — he lied. He said, “we won and we won big,” calling the results of the election “a fraud on the American people.” He purposely gave birth to the Big Lie, the cock-and-bull story he and his devoted followers trumpet to this day.

Donald Trump exploited America’s growing divisions over class, race, gender and religion for political purposes. That’s deplorable, but it’s not against the law. Inflaming a mob to attack the Capitol, an act the former president of the United States perpetrated (and which is no longer in dispute) is.

The events surrounding January 6 forced Americans (and citizens around the globe) to recognize and understand how vulnerable democracy really is and how very close we came to losing it.

Men who remembered their oath to protect and defend died that day (or soon after because of it). Men and women who didn’t flinch in the line of duty were injured, some with life-long wounds because of one man who chose to incite a hoard in a futile attempt to overturn an election he knew he lost.

Speaking to the investigative committee, J. Michael Luttig (a retired, conservative federal judge) said Trump’s attempt to overturn the vote brought the nation to the edge of a “revolution within a constitutional crisis and that Trump and his allies are laying the groundwork to try again in 2024,” adding, “they are a clear and present danger to American democracy and I don’t speak those words lightly.”

The Republican Party continues to be an accomplice in Trump’s wrongdoing: denying, defying, obstructing and preventing (by any means available) the January 6 committee from completing its duty. History will record, as Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) (speaking to her Republican colleagues) so eloquently and forcefully phrased, “There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.”

Cheney also spoke of those who “honored their oath of office” January 6, and did their duty. I would remind my fellow veterans (who are choosing to remain silent even as our republic teeters on the brink of collapse) we took that same oath. I took it five times in my Navy career, serving under presidents Eisenhower to Carter. “We take our oath to defend the United States Constitution,” Representative Cheney stated, “and that oath has to mean something.” Yes, I agree, it does.

By his actions (confirmed many times over by his own words), Donald Trump grossly and continuously abused the power of his office. I don’t know what Merrick Garland is going to do but his choices seem clear.

Choosing not to prosecute Trump would signal that presidents are above the law and would be a transparent invitation to future presidents to do whatever they want. To not prosecute ends democracy in America as we know it.

Merrick Garland must defend democracy and that means upholding the rule of law by “following the facts wherever they lead, by holding all January 6 perpetrators, at any level, accountable under the law,” as Merrick Garland stated and promised to do.

Granted, no previous attorney general has faced such a momentous challenge given no other president has ever instigated a coup d’etat against the United States of America. Whatever Merrick Garland decides will surely have consequences well beyond our lifetime ... and the world is watching.

David L. Snell

Franklin