To the Editor:

Re “Mueller Defends Inquiry and Says Russia Isn’t Done” (front page, July 25):

Robert Mueller’s congressional testimony on Wednesday was a sober reminder that there was another significant player in the 2016 presidential election besides Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. It was the Russian government.

In “sweeping and systemati c fashion,” from using a sophisticated disinformation campaign to partnering with WikiLeaks to release stolen documents from the Democratic National Committee, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia worked diligently and spared no expense to see to it that his preferred candidate, Donald Trump, would be our next president.

This subversion of our democracy, which Mr. Mueller reminds us is continuing, apparently does not alarm the Republicans in Congress. Their questions to Mr. Mueller were focused on why and how the investigation was started at all. Even if you want to shield the president from culpability, can you really look away from this destruction of our democracy?

Americans must ask why Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, and Republicans in Congress would block legislation to fortify our election process and leave us vulnerable again in 2020.