Dear Mr. Trump,

Your acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, has admitted what we knew all along from the transcript of your telephone call with Ukraine’s president. You conditioned sending essential military aid to our ally, Ukraine – aid required by act of Congress, i.e., law – on Ukraine’s promise to dig up dirt for use in your political campaigns.

That is a quid pro quo, am abuse of power, a corrupt act if ever there was one, behavior adverse to the security interest of the United States, conduct that endangers the lives of the brave Ukrainians fighting Russian aggression.

You don’t get it, do you? The powers of the presidency are to be used in the public interest, not in your personal political interest.

There’s no reason for you to have fired our ambassador to Ukraine and to have supplanted the State Department officials trained in foreign diplomacy, requiring them to act through your personal attorney Giuliani, other than to serve your personal – rather than the country’s – interests.

And the common thread here, as always during your presidency, is that you are trying to help Russia and its criminal dictator, Putin, who is holding you over a barrel. Why else withdraw so precipitously from Syria – deserting the Kurds, who were our allies against ISIS – if not to leave room for Russia to dominate?

And then, on top of everything else, you stonewall Congress. As Lindsey Graham (R.S.C.) has said: “A president who doesn’t comply with Congressional requests for information is subject to impeachment.”

Remember that Fox News Wednesday finding that 51 percent of Americans wants you impeached and removed from office? That number will only continue to grow.

Impeachment can’t happen soon enough.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger