William Cohen, former defense secretary, said “we are on the abyss of the destruction of our democracy”

William Cohen, former defense secretary, said “we are on the abyss of the destruction of our democracy”

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Referring to Trump’s repeated and unfounded allegations of fraud and efforts to put pressure on election officials, Cohen, a Republican who served under President Bill Clinton, told CNN’s Don Lemon that the rule of law must be followed and that conduct Trump is actively harming the country.

“This does not bode well for the United States, because we are on the abyss of the destruction of our democracy. And therefore, we have to go back to the key principles. We must have truth in all facets of our lives. And when not you do, you will not have the trust of the people, “Cohen said on CNN Tonight.

Trump has repeatedly released false allegations after his defeat in the election for President-elect Joe Biden two months ago, but in recent weeks he has stepped up his attempts to overturn the results. Over the weekend, Trump unsuccessfully pressured Georgia’s Secretary of State to “find” votes and suggested that Vice President Mike Pence, in his ceremonial role of overseeing Congressional certification of the Electoral vote by Congress, rejected the will of the United States. voters.
“We are seeing the persistence of his corruption. This is not something new. This is how he has acted for most of his life,” said Cohen, referring to Trump’s call to Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger. He called the conduct “not surprising, shocking as it may be”, and said the president was “engaging in an open act of criminal misconduct”.
Cohen was among the ten living ex-defense secretaries who wrote a letter published in The Washington Post over the weekend, emphasizing that the presidential election has come and gone and that the tradition of a peaceful transfer of power must follow.

“Our elections took place. Recounts and audits were carried out. The appropriate disputes were dealt with by the courts. The governors certified the results. And the electoral college voted. The time to question the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes. , as prescribed in the Constitution and the statute, has arrived “, wrote the former defense secretaries.

Cohen told Lemon on Monday that although the letter from the Secretaries of Defense was written and published before the launch of Trump’s call, “the tape recording just confirms what we’ve seen in the past four years,” said Cohen.

“We talk about the rule of law and people need to understand: if there is no rule of law, if people can abuse and misuse, we are all in danger,” added Cohen.

CNN’s Paul LeBlanc contributed to this report.

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