To the Editor:

Re “Trump Asked for ‘Favor’ in Call, Memo Shows” (front page, Sept. 26):

I want to share two important points about impeachment:

1) There’s no need for a quid pro quo. For the president simply to ask a foreign government to investigate his political rival is an impeachable offense. He’s using his official authority to benefit himself personally. That’s enough. Any quid pro quo is gravy, but is not necessary to prove.

2) Another reason a quid pro quo doesn’t matter: Simply by making the request, the president has put himself and the country in jeopardy because now he is beholden to a foreign leader who can use the “favor” he has done as leverage against the president and the United States, whether as blackmail against the president or to extort something not in the United States’ interest.

It’s just like in “The Godfather”: I do you a favor and someday I might ask a favor of you. Any president who puts himself in that position to benefit personally while putting himself and the country at risk should be impeached and removed from office.

Bruce C. Jonas

Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.

To the Editor:

Over the past few weeks, I have explained to my political communication students the various deficits of American democracy. Now, as the press, at its finest, informs the public of a president’s nefarious behavior, a whistle-blower courageously comes forth to reveal the chief executive’s disturbing conversation, and the House of Representatives brandishes time-honored checks and balances, I will tell the class that for all its flaws, democracy in America remains intact, its institutions steering the country forward.