Robert Mueller is pursuing Donald Trump on charges that sound a lot like treason
Months ago, Donald Trump gave Israeli classified intelligence to the Russian government during an Oval Office meeting, creating an international incident and likely getting a valuable Israeli asset killed in the process. Because Trump has had so many additional scandals since, the public has largely forgotten about the debacle. But as it turns out, Special Counsel Robert Mueller hasn’t forgotten about it one bit. In fact he’s now investigating Trump for it – and the whole thing is starting to sound an awful lot like a treason investigation.
The details of the classified Israeli mission – the one Trump ruined by telling the Russians about it – have been spelled out by Vanity Fair in a lengthy profile (link). Here’s the buried lede in that article: “Trump’s disturbing choice to hand over highly sensitive intelligence to the Russians is now a focus of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump’s relationship with Russia, both before and after the election.”
So now we know that Mueller isn’t merely investigating how Trump and his campaign colluded with Russia to rig the outcome of the election. Instead, Mueller is fully investigating the underlying nature of the relationship between Trump and Russia. He’s focusing on Trump’s decision to give a U.S. ally’s classified intel to the Russians, because it gets at the heart of why Trump is so beholden to the Russians.
In fact, if Robert Mueller views Donald Trump’s decision to feed intel to the Russians as a crime, then that crime would be something along the lines of treason. He purposely sabotaged the United States and its allies for the benefit of the Russian government. There is scholarly debate as to whether Russia’s election hacking legally qualifies as the act of war required to allow for actual treason charges. But even if not, it’s clear that Mueller is targeting Trump for – at the least – something along the lines of conspiracy against the United States.
