This is the editor's letter in the current issue of The Week magazine.
Shortly before taking office, President-elect Barack Obama faced a crucial question: Should his administration prosecute Bush administration and CIA officials involved in the "enhanced interrogation" program? Many Democrats were calling for war crimes charges, but Obama believed prosecuting his predecessors would be so politically divisive that it would consume his presidency. "We should look forward, as opposed to backward," Obama said. If a Democrat is elected president in November — a big if — he or she will face even greater pressure to go after Donald Trump, his top aides, and his company. The litany of possible criminal charges includes obstruction of justice, perjury, tax fraud, money laundering, accepting payments from foreign governments, and violations of campaign finance law. A year from now, the next president-elect may find it impossible to say "Let's just move on."
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