Trump Falsely Accused Former FBI Officials Of ‘Treason’ For Investigating Him
Trump’s two-day-long meltdown continued on Thursday afternoon, as the obviously worked-up president baselessly accused federal investigators of committing treason — a serious crime punishable by death — all because they looked into his ties to Russia.
Trump listed a number of his favorite targets, saying former FBI Director James Comey, former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, former FBI agent Peter Strzok, and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page tried to wage a coup against his presidency, referencing a much-ballyhooed “insurance policy” comment Strzok and Page sent in a text message, which Republicans have taken out of context to make look like some sort of nefarious plot against Trump.
“That’s treason, that’s treason,” Trump said of the non-existent coup he says was waged against his campaign. “They couldn’t win the election and that’s what happened.”
Trump said earlier this week at a rally in Pennsylvania that some of his political adversaries had committed treason, but he didn’t specifically list their names.
On Thursday, NBC News’ Peter Alexander pointed out to Trump how serious that charge is, reminding Trump that treason is “punishable by death,” and asked who specifically Trump was accusing of such a serious crime.
Of course, none of the people listed above committed any crimes, let alone treason.
According to the U.S. Code, “treason” is defined as, “Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000.”
That definition clearly doesn’t apply here.
Yet Trump — clearly terrified of the congressional oversight probes hanging over his head and the possibility of facing indictments if he loses the 2020 election — is ratcheting up his rhetoric in the hopes it will help him win again next November.
“That’s what’s happening now, they don’t feel they can win the election so they’re trying to do the 1,000 stabs, let’s keep stabbing,” Trump said of the congressional investigations into his conduct, once again baselessly accusing Democrats of “treason” for conducting legitimate oversight.
Trump’s rhetoric is extremely unhinged and dangerous.
Published with permission of The American Independent.
