Question of did donald trump commit treason . And we have a model from the past of a president ial candidate in Donald Trumps situation dealing with a foreign country in a way that people suspect donald trump has been dealing with russia. All of that coming up. Hacking is a very hard thing to prove so it could be somebody else. He needs to stop denigrating the intelligence committee. Hes going it rely on them. And i also know things that other people dont know. Youll find out on tuesday or wednesday. Is he holding it out there like some tease for a reality show . I think he does know things. Thats why hes the president elect. Trump does not have any better information than president obama. Putin has hacked into our elections, trying to undermine democracy all over the world. We will be working for much tougher sanctions against russia. Trump, himself, praised Vladimir Putin for not responding in kind. Great move on delay by v. Putin. I always knew he was very smart. He has chosen to side with a murderous dictator, Vladimir Putin, over the patriots who serve our own intelligence services. My big fear right now is he doesnt appreciate that russia is a threat to this country. The hacking was an attack and we should be treated as such. Hacking is a very hard thing to prove so it could be somebody else. He needs to stop talking this way. Treason. It has come to that. Treason. We now have to discuss treason because donald trump did something this weekend that weve never seen before. Something that reasonable people think is treasonous. The word, shocking, has lost its meaning with donald trump but i was shocked on friday afternoon. Momentarily, anyway, when i saw what donald trump had done because although the word, shocking, has lost its meaning in america, the sensation still exists. We can still feel shock and if we lose that feeling, when donald trump does something shocking, that is when donald trump will have really finally won. He will have killed the outrage that is always the proper reaction to the outrageous. Donald trump now knows that the way to erase the shock of anything he has said or done is to simply Say Something else. Anything else. It doesnt have to be shocking. It just has to be new. And the news media will latch on to the newest thing donald trump has said because its new. Thats why you havent heard much about what donald trump said three days ago. The news media has processed it and moved on. To this. I also know things that other people dont know. Of course, the president elect should know things that other people dont know, but so far, theres no evidence that donald trump does. And then theres his refusal to know what everyone else knows. They notice any time anything wrong happens they like to say the russians she doesnt now if its the russians doing the hacking. Maybe there is no hacking. Maybe there is no hacking. Thats what he actually said about the stolen emails from Hillary ClintonsCampaign Chairman john podesta. Does that mean that he thinks john podesta may have just forwarded his emails to wileaks . That is how desperate donald trump has been to deflect blame from Vladimir Putin and russia for these cyber attack that u. S. Intelligence officials have concluded was launched by russia and directed by Vladimir Putin. After Vladimir Putin decided not to retaliate against the sanctions imposed by president obama and to delay any response until after donald trump is sworn in, donald trump tweeted something that could be a federal crime. A very serious federal crime. And instantly, twitter was filled with speculation about that. Did donald trump just commit treason . Heres what he said. Great move on delay by v. Putin. I always knew he was very smart. Now, there is so much to react to in that tweet. But it was the treasonous sound of it that got most attention. But before we turn to that, just consider for a moment why does donald trump think that Vladimir Putin is very smart . Does he think you have to be very smart to be a dictator who does not allow dissent and cr h crushes, imprisons or murders his opponents, invades a neighboring country, oppresses gay people, do you have to be smart to do that . In that tweet, the man who thinks hes the greatest negotiator in the world has said Vladimir Putin is smart to wait to deal with the greatest negotiator in the world. Hes smart to wait to deal with donald trump, instead of president obama. And its easy to actually agree with that, but not in any way thats complimentary to donald trump. Of course, it is smart for Vladimir Putin to deal with donald trump if, and only if, Vladimir Putin believes donald trump will be easier to deal with. Because donald trump is a weaker negotiator. Because donald trump is a pushover. Or because Vladimir Putin sees donald trump as his very own rodeo clown. That is the only reason that it could be smart for Vladimir Putin to wait to deal with donald trump. There is no compliment to donald trump in that concept, but, of course, thats one of the many things that donald trump doesnt know. Great move on delay by v. Putin. I always knew he was very smart. Jameel smith of mtv news tweeted this is borderline treasonous. I dont know what putin has on this cat, but my lord, it must be incredible. God help us. Another tweeted i dont think trump committed treason in this tweet, but hes in the neighborhood. Another tweeted whats the threshold for treason . And that is the question that Donald Trumps tweet poses. It is is very possible that donald trump will tweet and say and do other things especially in relation to russia that will provoke this question time and time again this year. What is the threshold for treason . Everyone vaguely remembers something about providing aid and comfort to the enemy, was that tweet aid to the enemy . Was it comforting to the enemy . Surely Vladimir Putin was comforted by donald trump calling him very smart, but is Vladimir Putin the enemy . Treason is the only crime that is specified in the constitution. It says treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. Thats it. Treason is levying war against the United States or giving the enemies of the United States aid and comfort. The United StatesSupreme Court has come to interpret that sentence to mean giving aid and comfort to our enemies in a declared war. Which is why no one has been charged with treason in the United States since the last time we were in a declared war, which was world war ii. Without a declaration of war against russia, russia and Vladimir Putin would not fit definition of enemy in the constitutions definition of treason, and so, no, donald trump did not commit treason because it is virtually impossible to commit treason when we are not formally in a declared war with another country. Thats why when cia officer alder james was caught selling secrets to russia, he was not convicted of treason, he was convicted of violating the espionage act. Which brings us to the logan act. Which brings us to the logan act any Foreign Government or any officer or agent thereof with intent to influence the measures of conduct of any Foreign Government or of any officer or agent thereof in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States. Thats what donald trump was doing with that tweet. He was clearly communicating with a Foreign Government and officer of a Foreign Government by name, v. Putin, he intended to influence the conduct of that Foreign Government in a relation to a dispute with the United States. There is nothing in law that says the logan act does not apply to president select. The logan act is, in effect, the one president at a time principle written into law. With donald trump, we frequently say we have never been here before. Weve entered a new zone with in precedent. Not this time. In 1968, when he was the republican nominee for president , Richard Nixon engaged, that the sitting president of the United States, Lyndon Johnson, privately said was treason. And now we have new proof published in the New York Times yesterday of exactly what Richard Nixon did. In 1968, the vietnam war was raging out of control to the point that Lyndon Johnson decided not to run for reelection. Humphrey was the democratic nominee. President johnson was december prat l desperately trying to get the South Vietnamese we were supporting into peace talks with north vietnam. South vietnams president was afraid Lyndon Johnson would not be tough enough with the north vietnamese so it was a struggle to get the people we were supporting with money and already 30,000 american war dead to the peace talks. Richard nixon got word to the South Vietnamese to resist any peace negotiation. Nixon feared any breakthrough in the peace negotiations would give the election to hubert humphrey. The broad outlines of this story have been known for years now, the names of the key players have been known, but with jack ferrell has discovered and reported in yesterdays New York Times for the first time are nixons own words about the scheme. The Monkey Wrench. Jack ferrell has found Nixon Campaign aidhaldemans nates about a conversation with nixon about the scheme, notes, keep working on South Vietnam any other way to Monkey Wrench it. As rumor spread that nixon might be interfering with the talks, he got very worried about this, knowing that it was a crime. He called president johnson. And he lied to him. About what he was doing. When Lyndon Johnson confronted Richard Nixon about this. Hello . Mr. President , this is dic nixon. Yes, dick. I want to letounow i got a report regarding yr call and i just went onmeet the press and i said that on meet the press that i had given you my personal assurance that i would do Everything Possible to cooperate both before the election and if elected after the election and if you felt, the secretary of state felt, that anything would be useful that i could do, i would do it, that i felt han i felt saigon should come to the conference table, that you felt it was necessary to go there or go to paris, either one. I just wanted you to know that i feel very, very strongly about this and any rumblings around about somebody trying to sabotage the saigon governments attitude certainly has no actually no credibility as far as im concerned. Im very happy to hear that, dick, but that is taking place. That is taking place, what president johnson said. He heard nixons excuse, didnt accept it, told him its taking place. He continued pressing him about what nixon called sabotage and Richard Nixon said this to president johnson. The point that im making is this, that my god, i would never do anything to encourage hanoi i mean, saigon not to come to the table, because thats what you got out of your bombing pause. Good god, we want them over in paris. We got to get them to paris or you cant have a peace. He mentioned their good friend, Everett Dirksen at the beginning of their conversation, republican senator. Lyndon johnson privately said to lEverett Dirksen that this is treason. Those were his words. This is treason. Thats what the president thought. He said, i know. Richard nixon did not just help prolong the war through the election season of 1968. He kept it going for five years as president costing the United States another 28,000 lives. Joining us now, john farrell, the author of the upcoming book, Richard Nixon the life. Jack, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Your first interview about this discoverry which you just published. First of all, whens the book coming out . We cant wait. March 28th. March 28th. Okay. Im going to be at the bookstore. So this you have many discoveries in the haldeman notes. Id like to get to some more of them. Id like to concentrate on this for the moment and that feeling in washington by the president , lEverett Dirksen, by the people who discovered the evidence about this at the time, of feeling that this was treason. They had never witnessed anything like this. Theres always been in american elections with Foreign Affairs and nixon, himself, had been on the losing end in 1960 when they delayed the release of some captured american pilots in order to keep nixon eisenhower, the eisenhower ticket a boost in the election against john kennedy. So he also knew in 1966, Lyndon Johnson had come up with an october surprise in the offyear elections and he was very suspicious that this was being played on him again and so he took the steps to prevent it by reaching out through his intermediaries to the South Vietnamese government. And you make the point in your New York Times report about this that this does look like a violation of the logan act. As far as i read the logan act, it sounds like this fits it to a t. The problem with the logan act is only one person has ever been indicted for it and that persons prosecution was dropped. So it runs against some of the tenets of the 1st amendment. Its been a difficult law to apply. It gets trotted out and thrown about in charges and countercharges but its more of a warning. The best that can be said, the least that can be said, is what Henry Kissinger said, if nixon did this, it was highly improper and nixon, himself, in his interviews with david frost said i would never do that, that would be a terrible thing to do. Definitely an element of selfconsciousness on nixons side. Henry kissinger is one of the people communicating to nixing about the progress being made in the peace talks. Yeah. Actually the haldeman notes i found doing the work on the book was exonerating to kissinger because kissingers advice even while hes tipping nixon off is to sit tight, we dont though exactly whats going to happen, dont know the meaning of this, we know theres a breakthrough you could be caught unaware of. Dont go out too far on a limb. Nixon thoook it just the opposi, went roaring out on a limb telling bob haldeman and other contacts revealed in the notes to pressure South Vietnam into what he said holding firm his main envoy, madam chennault, was captured on an fbi wiretap using almost those exact words to the South Vietnamese ambassador in washington. At some point Lyndon Johnson was on to this and started putting some surveillance on some of the people they thought were involved in communicating with the vietnamese. Yeah, the chain is now with these notes the chain is pretty much complete from nixon to haldeman and John Mitchell to Anna Chenault to the South Vietnamese ambassador and saigon. The great question that still is out there is how much did this how much did this influence the South Vietnamese government which was having its own internal political battles and so how great a chance was lost . The saddest thing that i found was a note in the Lyndon Johnson library from his National Security adviser which said almost mournfully to Lyndon Johnson, this is the best chance weve had since 1961 to get out of this mess. This has been very painful. Im here with your generals. We think we should go ahead, we think with determination we can make this work. So we can look back now and say, boy, those north vietnamese were incredibly stubborn, this was never going to happen, but at the time, johnson and his advisers believed this was this was more than viable. They thought this was a potential breakthrough. And jack, a final point here. Why didnt Lyndon Johnson reveal publicly what he knew about this before the election . They had a long discussion about that. Some of his aides urged him to. But there were two reasons. The more nefarious reasons was that nixon had been not nixon, but his envoys had been wiretapped and eavesdropped and followed around and would look bad for the american president to use the fbi in the late stages of a campaign. But the practical reason was as Clark Clifford told him in this 11thhour meeting a