[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ngpn0DqVxXQ&feature=youtu.be]
New vid with text below.

Partisans in both major parties have been throwing around the term "Treason" a lot recently. This video gives you a short primer on why, under the US Constitution the accusations made against Trump for meeting with Putin do not constitute treason, nor would he have committed treason under US law even assuming Mueller can prove Trump colluded with Russia to defeat Hillary Clinton. This applies to you Republicans as well, who charged Obama with Treason for entering into the Iran Nuclear Deal and then releasing the funds held in the US pursuant to that agreement.

And no, Hillary Clinton did not commit treason either for any of the numerous things she did as Senator or Secretary of State. Treason is narrowly defined under the Constitution precisely because the Founders did not want it to be used as a weapon against one's political opponents. Even what the Rosenbergs did when they gave away nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union in the 40's did not result in a treason charge against them (They were convicted for violating the Espionage Act).

These casual and outraged accusations of treason by politicians and ideologues of all stripes that their adversaries, whether we are talking Trump or Obama or Clinton or Bush, or anyone else for that matter, coarsen our political discourse and distract us from the very real problems facing the United States and its citizens. For anyone who would like to do some further research on what does and does not constitute treason, here are some links for your elucidation:

"Five myths about treason" authored by Carlton F.W. Larson, professor of law at the University of California at Davis and published in The Washington Post on 2/17/2017: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-treason/2017/02...

"Treason Against the United States," from the New York Times archives: https://www.nytimes.com/1861/01/25/archives/treason-against-the-united-s...

Excerpts from "Discourse on High Treason" by Sir Michael Foster, dated 1762 - Document 7 located on the website: The Founder's Constitution ( a joint venture of the University of Chicago Press and the Liberty Fund.): Article 3, Section 3, Clauses 1 and 2 (Document 7): http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a3_3_1-2s7.html

Treason Act 1351 - King Edward III of England (language in the US constitution was directly taken from this English statute for the purpose of limiting the use of treason trials against one's political opponents): http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aep/Edw3Stat5/25/2

"The Constitution’s Treason Clause: Seldom invoked despite threats" by Scott Bomboy, Editor in Chief of the National Constitution Center, dated July 14, 2017: https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/the-treason-clause-seldom-invoked-de...

U.S. Constitution - Article 3 Section 3 https://www.usconstitution.net/xconst_A3Sec3.html