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WASHINGTON DC, KOMPAS.com – Ten surviving former defense ministers of the United States (US) declared that the US presidential elections were over.
Launch from CNN on Monday (1/4/2021), they stated that in a public letter published by Washington Post on Sunday (3/1/2021), when President Donald Trump continued to deny his electoral defeat to Joe Biden.
The public letter marked tremendous power against Trump’s subversion efforts in the days before Congress counted the Electoral College votes.
The ten ministers who signed the letter were Dick Cheney, James Mattis, Mark Esper, Leon Panetta, Donald Rumsfeld, William Cohen, Chuck Hagel, Robert Gates, William Perry, and Ashton Carter.
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“Our election has taken place. A recount and audit have been conducted. The court has handled the lawsuit accordingly. The governors have endorsed the results,” the letter statement read.
“And the constituency has voted. The time to question the results is past,” he continued.
“The time has come for the official scrutiny of the votes of the electoral institutions, as stipulated in the Constitution and the statutes,” the group stressed.
Since 2020 U.S. Election Day, Trump has falsely claimed his second term was stolen from him.
There are no credible allegations of widespread voting problems, as confirmed by dozens of judges, governors and election officials, the Electoral College, the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the US Supreme Court.
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However, most Republican congressmen side with the 45th president of the United States and plan to reject Biden’s victory during the Electoral College recount on Wednesday.
Although, his efforts would only delay Biden’s inevitable claim of victory.
The former defense minister, who collectively represents his decades in office, wrote that a presidential transition “was an essential part of a successful transfer of power.”
The letter followed Trump’s impeachment of Esper in November as part of a series of sweeping changes to the Defense Department’s civilian leadership structure, which included the installation of individuals deemed loyal to the president.
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The shakeup has made officials within the Pentagon nervous and caused growing anxiety among military and civilian officials.
Meanwhile, the top US military official, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, told Congress in August that the military would not help resolve the 2020 US election dispute.
The group of former defense ministers emphasized in their letter that efforts like Trump’s “will lead us to dangerous, illegal and constitutional territory.”
“Civil and military officials who direct or carry out such acts will be held responsible, including the possibility of facing criminal sanctions, for the serious consequences of their actions in our republic,” the letter said.
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Cohen, a Republican who served as Defense Minister under President Bill Clinton, said CNN in the “Newsroom” shortly after the letter was published, that the “very unusual” move was justified given the “unconstitutional path” that Trump has taken towards the country.
“The letter is really our effort to attract the American people. We believe that they are all patriots,” they explained.
They have been led by President Trump down an unconstitutional path.
“So we feel that it is our duty as those of us who have served in the Defense Ministry to say: Help all of you in the Defense Ministry, you have sworn to serve this country, this Constitution, not whoever gives it,” he said.
Perry, a Democrat who also served as Secretary of Defense during the Clinton presidency, also issued a statement in a tweet about the letter on Sunday night local time (3/1/2021).
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He said the idea for the statement came from Cheney, a Republican who served as defense minister under George HW Bush before becoming vice president under President George W Bush.
“Each of us promises to support and defend the constitution. The oath does not change by party,” Perry said.
The former defense minister concluded his letter by urging the Defense Department “to refrain from any political action” that could undermine the electoral result or jeopardize the transition to a new government.
“We ask them, in the strongest terms, to do what many generations of Americans have done before them,” the letter said.
“This latest action is in accordance with the highest tradition and professionalism of the United States armed forces and the history of democratic transition in our great country,” the statement concluded.
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