To those outraged by the initiation of an impeachment inquiry, I suggest waiting and seeing where the investigation leads.

I hope that everyone commenting has read both the White House-released summary of the July 25 call as well as the whistleblower complaint. If any American citizen can read them without being concerned about the implications for our republic, if in fact the allegations are borne out, I am alarmed.

I understand some don’t want to believe it, but, if true, we have a huge problem. Others will attempt to educate us on the implications of their truth in coming days. So I will leave that to them.

As to “hearsay,” I make two points: We can see that the first-person account (the transcript) strongly corroborates the details of the call as reported in the complaint. Second, I expect in judging the credibility of the complaint the inspector general of the intelligence community spoke directly to at least some of the whistleblower’s sources. This has been all but explicitly confirmed. The details of that will come out, but asserting that it is all hearsay is a weak repudiation.

To say there is “no there, there” at this point in the process shows willful ignorance on the part of commentators, whether it is a U.S. senator who swore to uphold the Constitution or a rank-and-file Republican ranting on Facebook.

This specific act represents a threat to our free democracy and our Constitution (which I take for granted is a point of belief shared by all of us) and, if proven true, clearly demands a thorough and dispassionate examination and explanation.

— Alan Menius

Salisbury