Accused of treason, Trump changes positions on death penalty
MOSCOW -- After the Washington Post reported that failed GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump will more than likely be charged with treason within the coming weeks, on Monday, former reality TV star took to Twitter to announce his newfound moral objection to capital punishment.
According to the Post, Attorney General Preet Bharara is preparing an indictment based on "copious amounts of evidence" documenting Trump's "blatant collusion with Russia, an enemy of the United States, in an effort to steal the 2016 presidential election from Hillary Rodham Clinton." The Department of Justice has apparently been investigating Trump's ongoing financial relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin since FBI Director James Comey publicly apologized to Clinton and labeled Trump "a traitor to America" in May.
Trump first publicized his change of heart about the death penalty in the early morning hours with a Tweet saying: "Death penalty is inhuman." Immediately, Yale Law School's Emily Bazelon called Trump's "stunning" policy reversal "highly convenient now that Trump is widely expected to be tried for a crime that is literally 'punishable by death' according to statute."
On Twitter, Trump continued, saying he is "very against the death penalty." Legal scholars like Lawfare's Benjamin Wittes were quick to point out that Trump has Tweeted contradictory statements like, "death to Hillary Clinton" five times since 2015.
Despite Russia's intervention, Trump lost the 2016 election to President Hillary Rodham Clinton by a staggering margin of 3 million votes.
Trump's lawyer Marc E. Kasowitz responded with a press statement saying it is "logically impossible to try a Russian citizen for betraying the United States." Trump renounced his American citizenship earlier this year.
