Mueller shows some of his hand

[Dill]

(11-28-2018, 05:20 PM)michaelsean Wrote: For it to be treason, the enemy has to be a country in which you have an open or declared war.  We are at peace with Russia.  Which is why you could still technically have treason involving N Korea or ISIS.  I mean Aldrich Ames wasn't accused of treason.  

I mean the definition has been made so tight that conspiring to levy a war against the US is not treason if you haven't actually fielded an armed group to do so.

A historical reason for that. "Treason" used to cover most any violent resistance to most any authority--like a servant striking or killing a master. The English crown, by the early 17th century, was defining every little resistance to the king's law, and to people carrying out that law, as high treason, treason against the state. E.g., punching a tax collector or ignoring a sumptuary law could be treason, as the state was so identified with the person of the king. (Punching said tax collector could be legally the same as punching the king.)  The application of treason was rolled back somewhat after 1688, when parliament gained real power, but our founders wanted nothing close to that.  So our treason cases generally involve spying during wartime or taking up arms. A West Virginian named Walter Allen was convicted of treason in 1921 because he led a miners strike which resulted in armed miners fighting law enforcement--even though the US was not at war with another country. Haven't read the case but I am assuming the event was framed as an insurrection, like the Whisky Rebellion. Thousands of miners (many WWI vets) organized themselves military style and to march on jails and free imprisoned minors. The "Battle of Blair Mountain" resulted.

And yes, spies aren't accused of treason in peace time. Even the Rosenbergs were just convicted of espionage.