Thank you Netgalley and Bryant Park Press for an ARC Copy of Treason & Betrayal: The Rise and Fall of Individual 1 by Kenneth Foard McCallion. Here is my honest review:
This should be required reading for those taking seriously the accusations against Donald Trump. The book is full of facts (real ones) and focuses on a legal analysis about whether the President (this one in particular) can be indicted for crimes while in office. It’s written by an attorney (which is a good thing), but never sputters into legalese, and should be easily consumed by the masses.
The relentless pace of the lies and misdeeds of this administration renders books out of date within weeks. The information in Mr. McCallion’s book is as current as you can get and provides an excellent timeline of important dates and events to back up his arguments.
Before we get to that, I was happy to see early in the book a point stressed that is either lost, ignored or under-appreciated amidst all the frantic, all-caps “WITCH HUNT!” tweets. McCallion quotes James Baker to remind us that the FBI investigation into this situation was first and foremost centered around Russia, and not Donald Trump. Too many people think it is the other way around.
The main issue this book tackles is whether Donald Trump, with what we currently know, could be indicted for Treason. McCallion begins by defining what treason is under the Constitution (spoiler alert: it’s not refusing to clap for someone’s speech). This is broken down to two more issues which ask whether Russia is considered an “enemy” (although he aptly notes, referencing Jonathan Pollard, that this may not matter as much as you’d think) and if Trump (and/or his associates) provided “aid” or “comfort” to them.
The first issue, about Russia being an enemy, requiring more than a paragraph, sounded bizarre since I am old enough to recall the latter stages of the Cold War and it did not appear we saw the Ruskies as BFFs. I continued to live after that and it seemed pretty clear they’d fall on the “hostile nation” list as pertains to the USA. Yet, in these strange times, McCallion realized he’d need more than a paragraph and lays out his case, providing indisputable evidence that Russia still qualifies as such.
The more interesting stuff comes regarding Trump and his crew. It is expertly and coherently displayed that Trump has surrounded himself with criminals for much of his life, so it comes as no surprise his political campaign was also permeated by them. Next, he relays how deeply and substantively connected he is to Russia that Trump’s statement “I have nothing to do with Russia whatsoever” alone should land him in prison just for being the worst lie anyone ever told.
The specific acts of Trump and his associates in his campaign and/or administration are then rattled off leaving the reader with no other logical conclusion than these people not only provided “aid” and “comfort” to Russia, but likely far worse than that.
It all comes full circle. It seems clear after reading this that there is enough evidence for Trump to be charged with Treason, but the bigger question is whether he legally can be? McCallion provides a concise legal analysis that concludes it appears to be an open issue that has not yet been addressed by the Supreme Court.
Reading this book, I am convinced there is no better time than now to have it addressed for the first time and make some new case law. And if some sources are needed to support it being legally feasible, you can find a few in these pages.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2744562638