Rubio, Scott should read Trump indictment

The main function of a U.S. senator is to legislate, to write and enact laws. The Senate wrote 18 U.S.C. Section 793 (e), which states that it is a crime to (1) have unauthorized possession of classified documents and (2) to willfully retain them. An act is willful under law if it is done intentionally and with the specific intent to do something the law forbids.

I am dismayed by the disingenuous statements of our two U.S. senators, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, regarding the supposed weaponization of the Justice Department for prosecuting former President Trump for unauthorized possession of classified documents, but not President Joe Biden or former Vice President Mike Pence. There is scant evidence that Biden or Pence willfully retained classified documents, but overwhelming evidence that Trump did.

For Rubio and Scott to pretend they don’t know, or can’t tell the difference, is beyond shameful.

Gary Weinberger, Boynton Beach

No, we’re not blind

It’s obvious that Gov. Ron DeSantis is afraid. He refused to take questions at a recent forum and his unwillingness to hold a live town hall is indicative that he and his handlers don’t trust him to speak off the cuff — which is Donald Trump’s forté.

Asked by a reporter in New Hampshire why he wouldn’t allow questions at a campaign stop, he retorted angrily: “Are you blind? Are you blind? OK, so people are coming up to me, talking to me whatever they want to talk to me about.”

No, Governor, we are not blind. We very clearly see a very scared candidate who’s ill-prepared for the rigors of a presidential campaign.

Fred Hadley, Boca Raton

Racism is real

A letter writer claims systemic racism is a myth and implies that Sen. Tim Scott is proof of it. Exactly how? Many minority group members have achieved greatness in spite of systemic racism. Thurgood Marshall became a Supreme Court justice despite being prohibited from attending all-white University of Maryland Law School.

The writer cites Jim Crow laws, yet seems unaware that those laws are the definition of systemic racism. Is the writer unaware of “redlining” that prohibited minorities from buying or renting homes in areas reserved for whites? Or the denial of job and education opportunities? Is the writer unaware of planning decisions that routed interstate highways through minority neighborhoods?

While it’s true that Southern Democrats at the time often supported slavery, not all did. Is the writer unaware of Nixon’s 1968 “Southern strategy” that brought disaffected southern segregationists, including Democrats, into the Republican Party?

Democrats have no need to project their past onto Republicans. Republicans have assumed that mantle. If one were to get an actual demographic of white supremacist organizations, they would find very few left-wing liberals as members. Vast improvements have been made in racial equality, but Republicans have made great strides in reversing those improvements.

Scot McCluskey, Davie

Attorneys 1, 2 and 3

In most cases, neither a lawyer nor a client can be forced to testify about what was said in a confidential meeting they had. However, there’s an exception to that rule when, in effect, the lawyer becomes a co-conspirator in a criminal act. The Trump indictment filed by the government mentions three lawyers by number only (attorneys 1, 2, 3).

An intelligent reading indicates that those attorneys were co-conspirators with Trump relating to papers he was hiding from the government.

Trump’s new lawyers are asking for a court order preventing those former lawyers from testifying at his trial. By seeking an order preventing the testimony of his former attorneys, Trump is admitting that a criminal conspiracy existed.

Jason G. Brent, Las Vegas