Trump and Treason? Really?
June 30th 2020
Donald Trump (Gage Skidmore)
By Steven Jonas, MD, MPH
About a week ago, on another network, I published a column entitled “Trump Quits (Could it Be?)". In it I pointed out that at that time there was speculation that Trump might “pull a Johnson” (Lyndon that is) and, because his prospects for victory were becoming ever poorer, decide not to run for re-election, while staying in office through the rest of his term. In this past week, that sort of speculation, now from the likes of Joe Scarborough and James Carville, has only intensified.
However, in my column I expressed the thought that Trump would go beyond simply not running for re-election, while staying in the Presidency. But rather I speculated that he would resign, most likely in August before the Republican convention. And then, by pre-arrangement, Pence would pardon him, after which with as much of his money as he could gather up he would leave the country for one that has no extradition treaty with the United States, such Bahrain, Indonesia (it has some very nice parts), Morocco (great views of the Atlantic Ocean), or the United Arab Emirates (where Jared had lots of friends).
But why would he want to do that? Well, if he runs and loses, staying in the Presidency while dragging out to-be-unsuccessful legal challenges to the result, there is no chance of getting the pardon from Pence, and there is every chance that immediately upon leaving office he would be deluged with legal problems, both criminal and civil. As I said in the earlier column, they would include:
“The six major investigations at the Southern District of New York that Roy Cohn, oops, I mean Bill Barr tried (and failed) to get covered-up/dropped: 1. Rudy Giuliani and Lev Parnas; 2. Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew; 3. Deutsche Bank; 4. Turkish bank and Iran sanctions; 5. Irregularities at the 2017 Inauguration; 6. Russia (money laundering).
“Then there's what the New York State Attorney General and the New York City District Attorney might be coming after him for, to say nothing of what will be found in his Federal income tax returns (which would be sure to be released by a Biden) and in the unredacted version of the Mueller Report which would be released forthwith also (that is after Rep. Adam Schiff and his staff gave it a good going over). To say nothing of the new and old/revived civil suits (sex, money, and other) to which he would be subjected. Oh my!! Lots and lots of trouble.”
But now comes the possibility of trouble that would make all of the above look small. That is a charge of treason. Trump likes to wave around the term, in re, say, President Obama, but that is only because he doesn’t know what the definition of the Term, in the Constitution (which he has likely never read), is. And so, here it is, Article III, Section 3:
“Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court. The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attained."
Jr., Erik, and Ivanka will certainly be breathing easier because of that last clause.
Why raise this question now? Because of the new “Afghanistan thing,” of course. As of now, it is not entirely clear what actually happened in the “Bounty case,” how far up the chain of command the information that was apparently produced on the ground in Afghanistan actually got, and what Trump knew and didn’t know. But let’s say that he did know and that the proof was incontrovertible.
If the latter does prove to be the case, one thing that is clear is that at Trump’s behest, or lack thereof, nothing was “done about it vis-a-vis the Russians” (who, by the way, have denied the validity of the multiple reports alleging that the incident[s] indeed did happen). And then worse yet for him, while Trump, for whatever reason(s) (and the possible list is book length, as in the Mueller Report, Bolton’s book, and “other”) did nothing, it did happen that one or more service people died as a result of the Russian “bounty program.” In that case, what Trump did and did not do vis-à-vis the Russians might well fall under the “Aid and Comfort” section of the definition of Treason, above.
So. If none of the presently existing reasons for Trump to resign and run (out-of-the-country, not-for-the-Presidency) would be considered not-good-enough for him to do so, treason (which carries the death penalty) as a reason would surely qualify.
Steven Jonas, MD, MPH, MS is a Professor Emeritus of Preventive Medicine at StonyBrookMedicine (NY) and author/co-author/editor/co-editor of over 35 books. He is an occasional contributor to BuzzFlash (reborn) (after having been along-time contributor to the Original). In addition, he is a “Trusted Author” for Op-Ed News. a contributor to Reader Supported News/Writing for Godot; a contributor to From The G-Man; a Contributor for American Politics to The Planetary Movement; and a Deputy Editor, Politics, and a “Witness to History,” and an occasional contributor for The Greanville Post; He is also a triathlete (36 seasons, 256 multi-sport races).
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