Several prominent Republicans, including multiple former staff members of the first Trump administration, have signed their names to an open letter condemning President Donald Trump’s retaliatory investigations into Chris Krebs and Miles Taylor, announced via executive order earlier this month. The letter argues that Trump’s path is one of ”autocracy, not democracy," and that his behavior is the kind “more to be expected from a royal despot than the elected leader of a constitutional republic.” Signatories include Ty Cobb, who served as special counsel to the president from 2017 to 2018, and John Mitnick, who was general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security until being fired in 2019; both have been critical of Trump since leaving their roles in his first administration. Other signatories include 45 retired lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, 10 former governors, and two former commissioners of the Federal Election Commission.