A NEW LOW

"Whoever levies war against the United States, or adheres to their enemies, or gives aid and comfort to the enemy" is guilty of treason. The punishment is death, or a prison term of not less than five years.

Is there any doubt that if a US citizen were to agree to pay the Taliban a bounty of $100 for every US soldier they killed, that the bounty payer would be guilty of treason?

If it can be ascertained, i) as our intelligence agencies here and abroad have determined, that Putin has paid bounties for killing US troops, and ii) Trump knew about it but did nothing, is Trump guilty of giving aid and comfort to the enemy, and therefore guilty of treason?

On one hand:

a)  Though Russia is not involved in a "declared war" with the United States, I suggest that if Putin were pursuing a scheme to pay bonuses for the murder of  US servicemen and women, any US jury would find he was thereby waging "war" against the United States, and

b)  Every US trooper on Afghan soil is there because Trump either sent him there or decided to leave him there. I suggest Trump's abject failure to respond to Putin's murder of US troops makes out a clear a case of "giving aid and comfort to the enemy."

So is Trump guilty of treason, and subject to the death penalty?

On the other hand,

Probably not because:

i) There is allegedly some level of uncertainty in the intel report given to the president in his personal daily briefing book. (Experts have opined there is almost always some individual or agency that says the proof is not 100% and there is therefore some room for doubt,)

and,

ii) Criminal liability requires criminal intent. In other words, to convict Trump of giving aid and comfort to the enemy, a prosecutor would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a) Trump knew about the Putin murder scheme and b) Trump wilfully failed to take action in order to give aid and comfort to Putin's forces.

Trump has now embraced both tiers of his defense:

The White House has said the intel report was not clear and certain, though it's statement is deceptive. The "uncertainty" defense would only be pertinent to Trump's decision to take no action if Trump knew of the intel report and concluded it was too uncertain do anything about. But Trump's defense is he has not seen the report so he can hardly plead that he took no action because of any doubts in the report.

Indeed, the White House lie factory has played fast and loose with the English language, and tried to mask Trump's incompetence.

Notice, please, that the president doesn't address this matter himself. He is too busy talking about the "thugs" and "Fascists" who peacefully demonstrate bearing signs that say Black Lives Matter. Instead, it's the "White House" that issues statements in Trump's defense. Again, pay close attention to what they do not say. 

At first, the White House press office issued a statement denying that the president was personally made aware of the intel report of Russian bounties for murdering US troops. If you think that means no one reported this personally to Trump,  then you have been deceived. It soon became clear that the Russian bounty-for-murder scheme was reported in the Daily Presidential Briefing Book handed personally to Trump.

Once that cat was out of the bag, the White House moved to the next level of deception, and issued a statement that said, "Well, no one raised the issue 'verbally' with the President."  (I need to point out the pain that statement caused English teachers and lawyers, both of which groups know that "verbally" means using words, as opposed to other means of communication like hand signals, head nods, shoulder shrugs, etc.  So the White House statement was literally false, because the report given to Trump was indeed verbal.

But I concede that "verbal" is now frequently misused to mean "oral," so the best that can be said of the Trump position is,

 "Yeah, the intelligence community thinks it is important that I be made aware of stuff that relates to our national defense, and they think it so important that they write it down and give me a copy of their report every day. But I don't read the report, and nobody reads it to me."

Conclusion:

Whether the president read the report or not, his conduct is despicable. The failure of this administration to take action on this intel report is beyond the pale. Our intelligence agencies report to the Commander-in-Chief that a foreign power is paying someone to murder US soldiers and the Commander-in-Chief doesn't read the report because he can not or does not like to read?  

And his staff is so browbeaten that everybody knows to avoid telling Trump stuff they fear he does not like to hear?

And the result is NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE ABOUT THE INTELLIGENCE REPORT THAT PUTIN HAS BEEN PAYING BOUNTIES FOR THE MURDER OF US TROOPS.

How does this man live with himself knowing he may have been a party to the murder of US troops?

"UNFIT" TO BE PRESIDENT? IS THAT A REAL QUESTION?

AND WHAT OF THE PRESIDENT'S SUPPORTERS, ESPECIALLY THOSE IN THE HOUSE AND SENATE, WHO OWE A SUPREME DUTY TO THOSE THEY HAVE SENT INTO HARM'S WAY IN THE NATIONAL DEFENSE?

Where is the outrage?

Where is the bipartisan demand that Trump resign?

Happy Independence Day.

A bientot.

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