It’s a tiny, simple piece of US law…
tucked away since 1948…
and you don’t hear about it very often…
but it could be HUGE.
Let’s get something straight from the start — it isn’t likely that anyone involved in this Trump/Russia mess will be charged with treason. The requirements laid out in the Constitution are quite specific; a conviction for treason can arise ONLY from testimony of two witnesses or a confession in open court, and neither of those is a likely scenario in this case.
So, what else is there? Say hello to misprision of felony.
[ MASSIVE disclaimer — I am NOT an attorney. If I’ve misread the law, ]
[ I not only welcome, but beg for, correction in the comments. I’ll be ]
[ sure to update/edit/remove the diary as necessary if my understan- ]
[ ding is shown to be incorrect. ]
The language is straightforward — if you know that a felony has been committed and choose NOT to report it to civil or military authority, you are guilty of misprision of felony. Note that misprision is, in and of itself, a felony.
Why does this interest me where Trump/Russia is concerned? Because, thanks to Trump Junior’s release of his email thread concerning the “Russian lawyer”, I believe we know that a felony has arguably occurred.
Let’s start with 52 U.S. Code § 30121, which governs contributions and donations by foreign nationals to Federal, State or local elections. Most folks know that foreign nationals aren’t allowed to make monetary donations, but here’s what the statute actually says (in part):
It shall be unlawful for—
(1) a foreign national, directly or indirectly, to make—
(A)
a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or to make an express or implied promise to make a contribution or donation, in connection with a Federal, State, or local election;
See that “or other thing of value”? Well, I’d say that a big chunk of “incriminating information” on one’s opponent from a foreign government qualifies as a “thing of value”, especially if it’s coming from the original source. Let’s keep that in mind as we touch base elsewhere in the statute, where we learn that it’s ALSO unlawful for:
a person to solicit, accept, or receive a contribution or donation described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1) from a foreign national.
OK, so if the “incriminating information about Hillary” is a “thing of value” under this statute, then anyone who solicits, accepts or receives it is ALSO guilty of a felony under this statute. Now, Trump Junior has publicly stated that nothing came of this meeting, and they wound up talking about the Russian ban on US adoptions and the Magnitsky Act implementing US sanctions against Russia...but guess what? The fact that “nothing came of it” DOESN’T MATTER! Back to the law, where we find this definition for “solicitation”:
A solicitation is an oral or written communication that, construed as reasonably understood in the context in which it is made, contains a clear message asking, requesting, or recommending that another person make a contribution, donation, transfer of funds, or otherwise provide anything of value.
There you have it. By taking the meeting with Veselnitskaya on the understanding that she would provide “incriminating information on Hillary” from the Russian government, Trump Junior requested that Veselnitskaya “otherwise provide anything of value.” That’s why soliciting is listed specifically in the statute — it’s a crime, in and of itself, to even ASK for it...
Now, according to the documents Trump Junior released, he copied Manafort and Kushner on at least part of this thread of emails:
It seems impossible to suggest that Kushner and Manafort did not know, in advance of the meeting, that they were meeting with a foreign national characterized (elsewhere in the email thread) as a Russian government attorney who was going to provide incriminating evidence against Hillary, as part of “Russia and its government’s support of Mr. Trump.” Again, it doesn’t matter if Veselnitskaya actually produced anything or not — just showing up to the meeting constitutes a solicitation, and that’s a felony violation of US election law.
So, let’s put these pieces into one argument:
1. Veselnitskaya suggested a felony in her initial communication via Gladstone — that she, a foreign national, would deliver “incriminating evidence against Hillary” from official Russian government sources. This is a “thing of value” under US campaign finance law.
2. By meeting with Veselnitskaya with the understanding that she was going to deliver that “other thing of value”, Trump Jr./Manafort/Kushner solicited a donation from a foreign national...in felony violation of US law.
3. NONE of them reported any of this to any “civil or military authority” like, oh….the FBI.
That’s misprision of felony.
I think this could get rather interesting as we learn who else knew other pieces of this puzzle...and when.