It's Monday, June 12, 2023.

I'm Albert Moeller, and this is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from

a Christian worldview.

It's just a plain fact now that the United States of America is basically on trial, our

rule of law, on trial, our democratic political culture, on trial, our political understanding

of the role of presidents and former presidents on trial, our confidence in federal investigative

authorities and the federal courts on trial.

But our challenge, and indeed, the crisis is actually at an even more foundational level

because it has a great deal to do with whether we as Americans see one another as Americans

as part of a common political and cultural even civilizational project.

And like it or not, realize it or not, that's now all on the line.

And it went since it has been building as a crisis for some time.

On the other hand, it goes back to about seven o'clock last Thursday evening, Eastern

time, when Americans came fully to understand that a special prosecutor serving for the

Department of Justice had brought an indictment of several counts, very serious charges against

a former president of the United States.

This sets up a criminal trial.

We are looking at a massive indictment, 37 felony counts, and furthermore, some of them

are violations of the espionage act.

One of them is a count of obstruction of justice.

Other counts relate to misleading federal authorities.

All this from someone who at one point was the president of the United States, head of

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