'Almost unprecedented peril': CNN reporter warns of 'assaults on democracy by Donald Trump'

CNN White House reporter Stephen Collinson warned of Republican assaults on democracy during a new analysis.

"New revelations suggesting that the Trump administration abused Justice Department powers to target his political enemies underscore just how far the ex-President went to destroy cherished principles of American republican government," Collinson wrote.

"They show that the true extent of assaults on democracy by Donald Trump are still coming to light and are probably even now not fully known," he explained. "But this is not just a drama about the alleged misbehavior of a former President. Taken together with the Republican Party's refusal to hold Trump -- who remains the GOP's dominant figure -- to account for the Capitol insurrection and its nationwide efforts to restrict voting, the new allegations also indicate that the freedoms and core values that have underpinned American life for two-and-a-half centuries remain in almost unprecedented peril."

He explained how Trump's Department of Justice subpoenaed Apple to spy on Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee as they were investigating Trump's ties to Russia.

"The story sent shockwaves through Washington and lawmakers are now scrambling to understand the scope of what looks like one of the gravest scandals of a former administration steeped in political corruption. If the new drama is as it seems, it would validate fears of those who argued that Trump -- or his staff -- used the Justice Department as a personal political enforcement mechanism rather than the guarantor of the rule of law. It would also add fuel to arguments of those who warned that a second term for Trump would have further endangered the survival of American democracy," Collinson wrote.

The scandal may expand further.

"The reason this latest issue is so important is that it appears to show the executive branch of the government wielding presidential power to target the legislative branch, and the President's personal political enemies. It would be hard to find a more clear and flagrant abuse of presidential power," he wrote. "The newest revelations raise the question of whether there are even more alarming abuses of power by Trump that are yet to be uncovered -- an issue that is going to hike pressure on new Attorney General Merrick Garland to provide an accounting."

Read the full analysis.