Here’s what started it. Lt Colonel Tulsi Gabbard (National Guard) called for a ceasefire around the 25+ biolabs in Ukraine to prevent the breach of such facilities and the escape of pathogens, and prevent more pandemics. Draft-dodger and presidential hopeful Senator Mitt Romney responded: “Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda. Her treasonous lies may well cost lives.” Aside from the fact that treason only applies when we’re at war – and we’re not at war*, didn’t Mitt jump the shark here?
Tucker leapt to her defense
*Treason is the only crime defined in the U.S. Constitution. According to Article III, Section 3:
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
This section authorizes Congress to set the penalties for treason but not to change the definition or create degrees of treason. The federal treason statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2381, mirrors the Constitution’s language and imposes minimum penalties of five years’ imprisonment and a $10,000 fine. A conviction bars the defendant from holding any federal office and carries the possibility of the death penalty.