President Donald Trump’s scheme to bribe Ukraine into interfering with the 2020 Election by digging up dirt on former Vice-President Joe Biden so he can use it against him during the campaign is so bad that even Republicans are accusing him of treason, which Bill Weld did on Monday.
A whistleblower complaint allegedly details Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky in which he dangled military aid in exchange for starting an investigation, which prosecutors there refuse to do because there’s no evidence Biden did anything wrong.
The call is so damaging for Trump that his administration is refusing to release the transcript and the complaint to Congress in violation of the law.
Calls for impeachment have been quick to follow, but former Republican Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld, who is one of Trump’s three primary challengers, accused him of treason during an appearance on Morning Joe.
Joe Scarborough asked about the GOP canceling their primaries in several states to rig the nomination for Trump.
Weld agreed that such an undermining of democratic institutions is a crime in itself, but chose to focus on the Ukraine scandal.
“Obviously, canceling primaries undermines democratic institutions and democratic elections, but that’s far from the deepest dive crime that the president has committed here,” Weld said. “He has now acknowledged that in a single phone call right after he suspended $250 million of military aid to Ukraine, he called up the president of Ukraine and pressed him eight times to investigate Joe Biden, who the president thinks is going to be running against him.”
Weld then characterized Trump’s actions as treason.
“Talk about pressuring a foreign country to interfere with and control a U.S. election,” Weld said. “It couldn’t be clearer, and that’s not just undermining democratic institutions. That is treason — it’s treason pure and simple, and the penalty for treason under the U.S. code is death. That’s the only penalty. The penalty on the Constitution is removal from office, and that might look like a pretty good alternative to the president if he can work out a plea deal.”
Weld explained that treason should be the final straw to trigger immediate impeachment, or else what’s the point of it being in the Constitution specifically for Congress to use as a tool to oust corrupt leaders?
“The grounds for removal of office, impeachment, are treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors,” Weld said. “We don’t have to worry about bribery anymore, we don’t have to worry about other high crimes and misdemeanors, although I think he committed many. We have treason — we can go right for the hoop. It’s well past time for this guy, in my opinion, to be carted off to save us all. He’s daring us all to let him be totally lawless. He has no respect for the law, he has no knowledge base under any issues. Why do we want this man as president of the United States? I don’t get it. Now the path is clear. It’s a whole new level, and we have to count noses among the Republicans in the Senate. If they won’t say this is a bridge too far for us, then they really have no chance at the ballot box next year, not just President Trump but those members of the Senate.”
Here’s the video via YouTube:
When even Republicans are acknowledging that Trump is a traitor to the country, it’s time for Congress to take action. Doing nothing is the same as endorsement.
Featured Image: Screenshot
