Alarm As Former Defence Secretaries Dare Trump

<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Alarm as all 10 living former US defense secretaries have declared that the US presidential election is over<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that there is alarm <strong>as<&sol;strong> all 10 living former US defense secretaries have declared that the US presidential election is over&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The former secertarites disclosed this in a forceful public letter made available to OpenLife on Sunday&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This is coming against the back drop of  President Donald Trump’s consistent insistence to deny    Joe Biden’s victory&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The letter &&num;8212&semi; signed by Dick Cheney&comma; James Mattis&comma; Mark Esper&comma; Leon Panetta&comma; Donald Rumsfeld&comma; William Cohen&comma; Chuck Hagel&comma; Robert Gates&comma; William Perry and Ashton Carter &&num;8212&semi; amounts to a remarkable show of force against Trump&&num;8217&semi;s subversion efforts just days before Congress is set to count Electoral College votes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Our elections have occurred&period; Recounts and audits have been conducted&period; Appropriate challenges have been addressed by the courts&period; Governors have certified the results&period; And the electoral college has voted&period; The time for questioning the results has passed&semi; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes&comma; as prescribed in the Constitution and statute&comma; has arrived&comma;&&num;8221&semi; the group wrote&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>OpenLife Nigeria gathered that since Election Day&comma; Trump has claimed that a second term is being stolen&comma; even as there have been no credible allegations of widespread voting issues as affirmed by dozens of judges&comma; governors&comma; and election officials&comma; the Electoral College&comma; the Justice Department&comma; the Department of Homeland Security&comma; and the US Supreme Court&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Still&comma; a wide swath of congressional Republicans are siding with the President and plan to object to Biden&&num;8217&semi;s win during Electoral College counting on Wednesday &&num;8212&semi; even though their efforts will only delay the inevitable affirmation of Biden&&num;8217&semi;s win&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The former Defense secretaries&comma; who collectively represent decades of tenure in the position&comma; wrote that presidential transitions &&num;8220&semi;are a crucial part of the successful transfer of power&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Bottom of Form<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;They often occur at times of international uncertainty about U&period;S&period; national security policy and posture&period; They can be a moment when the nation is vulnerable to actions by adversaries seeking to take advantage of the situation&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Each of us swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution&semi; that oath does not change according to party designation&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Perry said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The former Defense secretaries ended their letter urging the Defense Department to &&num;8220&semi;refrain from any political actions&&num;8221&semi; that could undermine the election results or harm the transition to a new administration&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We call upon them&comma; in the strongest terms&comma; to do as so many generations of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">Americans<&sol;a> have done before them&comma;&&num;8221&semi; the letter states&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;This final action is in keeping with the highest traditions and professionalism of the U&period;S&period; armed forces&comma; and the history of democratic transition in our great country&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;