QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, I respect that you’re nonpartisan. You known as out Kushner and his sidekick and defined that since they weren’t precise authorities staff however volunteers, they didn’t should adjust to the Freedom of Info Act like Hillary and her non-public server. I can see how you might have forecast that, going into 2032, confidence in authorities on each side will collapse.
Do you suppose Kushner shall be investigated for treason?
DP
ANSWER: My purple flag was raised when Jared Kushner performed a key function in bringing former Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn into the Trump administration in the course of the first time period. Kushner’s Function was essential. After Trump received the 2016 election, Kushner organized a gathering between Cohn and Trump to offer a normal briefing on the economic system. Stories point out that Cohn entered Trump’s circle by Kushner and Ivanka Trump, who have been each essential advisors. Cohn in the end left Goldman Sachs to function the Director of the Nationwide Financial Council. That was towards all the things individuals voted for Trump to finish the within offers with the Neocons & bankers.
The in the course of the second time period, Jared Kushner most likely satisfied Trump to take heed to Netanyahu to start out this conflict. The file signifies Kushner was current on the assembly. I consider even Rubio suggested towards it. Then to ship Kushner and his sidekick as INFORMAL negotiators within the Center East and Russia/Ukraine, I believe was the worst attainable choice and I consider they won’t merely undermine the Republican Social gathering, they’ll destroy Trump’s legacy and destroy the essential CONFIDENCE in authorities from each side that shall be why we find yourself in 2032. The Democrats will little question goal them. They can not assist themselves. They’ll burn down the barn to get a mouse. It will solely expose the mistrust in authorities demanding political change as we head into 2032. Gallup Ballot already has discovered:
Democrats: 91% maintain this view, a pointy enhance from 57% in 2024.
Independents: 90% maintain this view.
Republicans: 83% maintain this view, comparatively secure in comparison with earlier years.
The query of TREASON is a curious one. Within the Roman Republic, the authorized idea closest to “treason” was perduellio (roughly that means “performing as an enemy of the state“), and its core prohibited acts included aiding the enemy, surrendering to the enemy, or colluding with the enemy. Relating to the precise situation of “accepting cash from the enemy,” historical past does file such occasions. As I’ve mentioned, human nature by no means adjustments all through the centuries.
Nevertheless, in response to the historian Livy, in the course of the early Republic, the Vitellii brothers conspired with the exiled king Tarquinius Superbus, proposing to betray the Roman state in trade for cost, and have been in the end punished as proditores (traitors). This case straight demonstrates that “betraying the state for cash” constituted treason.
Throughout Gaius Licinius Verres’ tenure as governor of Sicily (73–70BC), he was accused by Cicero of secretly colluding with pirates (Rome’s enemies) for private monetary achieve, together with releasing pirates and even internet hosting them in his house, conduct that Cicero characterised as treason (maiestas). Though Verres primarily confronted prices of extortion, this case illustrates the authorized and public opinion stance on officers who colluded with the enemy for revenue. As they are saying, there’s NOTHING NEW below the Solar.
The treason regulation in historic Athens (generally known as prodolia) included in its scope of punishment “accepting items from enemies” (taking items from them). This meant that receiving cash from an enemy and interesting in corresponding actions may doubtlessly represent betrayal of the city-state.
Nevertheless, the historic circumstances really recorded typically concerned navy commanders, and the costs often intertwined navy failure, corruption, and betrayal. For instance, the well-known case of Timotheus. He was prosecuted by a “treason indictment” (graphē prodosias) and in the end sentenced to an enormous nice of 100 abilities. In keeping with data, the rationale he was accused was “taking bribes from allies” to be able to search discount of tribute funds for them, this was extra like corruption involving overseas pursuits, however the cost was categorized below treason.
The Athenian generals, Pythodorus and Sophocles, misplaced the battle within the Sicilian expedition. They fled fearing being charged. They have been tried in absentia and sentenced to loss of life. The fees typically concerned each corruption and betrayal; the generals feared being prosecuted for “corruption or betrayal” upon returning house.
Throughout Medeval occasions, the core of the well-known English 1351 Treason Act was “compassing the loss of life of the king,” “levying conflict,” or “adhering to the king’s enemies and giving them assist and luxury.” Receiving overseas cash to affect coverage, until it straight constituted aiding enemies in wartime, was typically troublesome to suit inside this slender definition.
Nevertheless, circumstances involving “overseas cash” are principally tied to espionage or wartime treason. For instance, throughout World Conflict I, Frenchman Bolo Pasha was prosecuted for treason for receiving German funds, and the prosecutor argued that “receiving German cash itself was enough for the loss of life penalty,” although the cash was not really used towards France.
Then there was the Irishman Roger Casement who was convicted of TREASON below the 1351 Treason Act for looking for German help for Irish independence, however this was “aiding the enemy,” not merely “influencing coverage.”
Benedict Arnold (1741-1801) was by no means formally tried and convicted by a court docket for “treason” within the fashionable authorized sense. He was declared a traitor by a legislative decision after his plot to give up the important American fortress at West Level to the British in trade for MONEY and a navy fee was uncovered. He had beforehand been court-martialed just for different misconduct prices (unrelated to treason) whereas serving within the Continental Military. After studying that Main John André had been captured with the incriminating paperwork, Benedict Arnold fled to the British.
US LAW ON TREASON
Underneath U.S. regulation, an individual performing for the U.S. authorities accepting funds from a overseas authorities would typically not be thought-about treason. Treason is outlined very narrowly by the U.S. Structure, and such an act would extra probably fall below different federal legal statutes, ethics laws, or particular prohibitions relating to overseas items. The Strict Constitutional Definition of Treason legally is outlined exceptionally slender and is explicitly outlined in Article III, Part 3, Clause 1 of the U.S. Structure. In keeping with this clause, treason towards america consists solely in:
Levying Conflict towards america; or
Adhering to their Enemies, giving them Help and Consolation
Crucially, for an act to represent treason, the overseas authorities in query should qualify as an “Enemy” of america. This typically requires a state of open hostilities or conflict. The U.S. Supreme Court docket has interpreted this to require a proper declaration of conflict or precise armed battle; merely accepting cash from a overseas authorities that’s not an lively enemy in a conflict doesn’t meet the constitutional threshold for treason . The Framers deliberately made the definition strict to stop the cost of treason from getting used as a political weapon towards dissent as traditionally it was abused for simply talking out towards the King.
Authorized and Moral Points In addition to Treason
Whereas accepting overseas funds won’t be treason, it’s nonetheless topic to strict regulation and could be unlawful below different legal guidelines.
Federal Present Rules:
Underneath the International Presents and Decorations Act, U.S. authorities staff typically can not settle for items or funds from overseas governments valued over a minimal threshold (typically cited as $100 or an identical restrict relying on the precise regulation and context). If a overseas authorities provides a present exceeding this restrict, the worker should typically flip it over to the federal government or search particular approval .
Bribery and Ethics Guidelines:
If the cost is made with the intent to affect an official act, it may represent bribery below federal legal regulation (comparable to 18 U.S.C. § 201). Moreover, authorities ethics ideas strictly prohibit staff from soliciting or accepting items from entities which may search official motion or do enterprise with their company .
Only for the file, I can not settle for a present from a overseas authorities and below securities regulation, I can not even purchase tickets to Disneyland to provide to a CEO of an organization for that’s thought-about to be paying a bribe. I query if Kushner and his sidekick may very well be charged with Treason until they accepted something from Iran, once we are in an lively wartime that may very well be construed as offering assist and luxury to Iran’s conflict effort, the act doesn’t legally qualify as treason. Nevertheless, it could virtually actually violate federal reward acceptance guidelines, ethics laws, or anti-bribery legal guidelines.
I might suspect that that Kushner is blinded by the cash, and assumes he can get a pardon on Trump’s final day, or he’ll flee to Israel. The chaos this has launched is mind-boggling. Based mostly on present authorized understanding, the president probably can not validly pardon himself, however the Structure does allow pardoning relations—even those that carried out a bribery scheme on his behalf. The legality of a self-pardon stays untested and extremely contested. This perhaps Kushner’s ace-in-the-hole.
Nevertheless, an individual can not depend on a future presidential pardon to intentionally break the regulation with impunity. Whereas the President’s pardon energy is broad for previous offenses, it can’t be used to authorize or license future crimes, and a pardon granted as a part of a corrupt discount (like a bribe or to impede justice) can itself be unlawful. The truth that Kushner is a member of the family, if it may very well be proven that Trump benefited in any respect, then any pardon perhaps null and void.
As I mentioned, that is going to be sheer chaos and we’re prone to see this utterly carry down the two-party system and lift the specter that authorities is simply too corrupt and which may be what 2032 in the end resolves.
I’ve typically been requested why I might not be a part of the “membership” to change into a multi-billionaire. The reply is straightforward. You can’t probably spend that sort of cash so all you are able to do with it’s bribe different individuals to do stuff you need achieved. Sorry, I’ve by no means been fascinated with such schemes. Making an attempt to make billions this fashion is for POWER. However there are individuals who suppose the extra zeros they’ve means they’re higher than everybody else. You possibly can’t take it with you on the way to the sky. I used to be extra fascinated with fixing mysteries and accomplishment. Many cash so as to add zeros doesn’t make you extra essential than another person.
