President Trump has named to oversee the special counsel’s Russia investigation a political loyalist who has openly disparaged its legitimacy – in ignorance of whatever investigators are preparing to prove.

The kind of bias already displayed by Matthew Whitaker would have disqualified him to serve as an ordinary juror, much less as Trump’s new acting attorney general.

Trump’s brazen disregard of the need for an independent Justice Department investigation confronts Congress with a constitutional crisis in which lawmakers must take a stand. Which brings us to the silence of Senator Cory Gardner.

So far, Gardner has lacked the backbone to challenge the president’s appointment of a political hack to control an investigation in which Trump or his family could be implicated.

If he hopes for re-election in 2020, he might take note of Colorado voters’ clear message last Tuesday: in January, he’ll become the only Trump supporter still clinging to statewide office.

It’s long past time for Cory Gardner to wake up and smell the White House.

Jim Crawford

Broomfield