Heading Off a Coup?

That extraordinary letter has two parts and addresses two different issues. The first part, the first four paragraphs deals with Wednesday. The second part, the last three paragraphs, addresses the transition process to the Biden administration. I am not wrong about that. You can read the letter yourself and see that it is clearly bifurcated.

I am also not wrong about identifying the seminal passage in the first part, dealing with Wednesday:

Efforts to involve the U.S. armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory. Civilian and military officials who direct or carry out such measures would be accountable, including potentially facing criminal penalties, for the grave consequences of their actions on our republic.

Now, I may be wrong about this: There is a reason that that is the seminal paragraph dealing with Wednesday and that reason is that the ten DefSecs, and the Washington Post, have information that "Efforts to involve the U.S. armed forces" in Wednesday's joint session of Congress have already been made. To hit this nail squarely on its head: a coup d'état is in the works. The letter was co-written and published today at 5 pm, it was written urgently upon new, credible information, to let the conspirators know that all of them, the ten authors and the Post, are aware, and to head off the coup. The second sentence is a warning: all "Civilian [Trump, among others] and military officials" "who direct [Trump, among others]or carry out" a coup d'état will face legal consequences including criminal arrest.

The second paragraph of the second, transition, part of the letter also contains this warning to the current acting DefSec,

Acting defense secretary Christopher C. Miller and his subordinates..must also refrain from any political actions that undermine the results of the election...