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number of crimes are mentioned in our Constitution, but treason is the only crime specifically defined there. And, unlike other nations that include speech and protest as potentially treasonable, our Constitution admits just two actions as constituting treason: “levying war against the US, or adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.”
Our question for today, then, is simple: Given this definition of treason, has President Trump committed treason against the United States?
Most scholars understand “levying war” to mean raising an army of some sort and carrying out military attacks against the United States. Therefore, we can dismiss that part of the act of treason.
But the second part, of giving aid and comfort to the enemies of these United States – do these acts of President Trump fit that definition?
- Starting over a year ago, a Russian military intelligence unit, the GRU, offered cash bounties to Taliban militants for killing U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
- There are reports that President Trump was informed of this as early as February of last year.
- In late March of this year, the National Security Council discussed this intelligence, and came up with a range of options for responding. (Note that the NSC includes the following: President Trump, Vice President Pence, Secretary of State Pompeo, Secretary of Defense Esper, Secretary of Energy Brouillette, Secretary of the Treasury Mnuchin, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, and Director of National Intelligence, who in March was acting DNI Richard Grenell.)
- None of the options was acted upon.
- On April 25 of this year, Trump issued a joint statement with Russian President Putin commemorating the 75th anniversary of the meeting between American and Soviet troops on the bridge of the Elbe River in Germany that signaled the final defeat of the Nazis. Their statement said “The “Spirit of the Elbe” is an example of how our countries can put aside differences, build trust, and cooperate in pursuit of a greater cause.”
- Between March and now, Trump has had a number of phone calls with Putin, all characterized as “positive.” As far as is known, Trump never brought up the bounties or the deaths of our service members.
- On June 1st, Trump and Putin discussed getting Russia back into the G7, from which it was expelled in 2014 after invading Ukraine. Trump has regularly said he wants to add Russia back to that group, which has long been a goal of Putin’s.
- On June 15, Trump ordered the removal of 9,500 troops from Germany, where they help protect NATO countries against Russian aggression. Getting these troops removed has also long been a goal of Putin and Russia.
A country that is paying to have U.S. soldiers killed in the field would, by most understanding, be classified as an enemy of the United States. Not protecting the armed forces of the U.S. from such an enemy would seem to be giving aid and comfort to that enemy.
So, is this treason? And if so, what will the United States Congress do about it?
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