What is the difference between sedition and treason?

According to Cornell Law School’s website, “Sedition” is defined as:

If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 808; July 24, 1956, ch. 678, § 1, 70 Stat. 623; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(N), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)

“Seditious Conspiracy” is defined as:

If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 808; July 24, 1956, ch. 678, § 1, 70 Stat. 623; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(N), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)

No one who cares about the well-being of this nation, and I mean truly cares, without favoritism or party loyalty, but with unbiased, unclouded hearts and minds, can look at what happened on January 6, 2021, and not see how both of these apply to Donald Trump and his fevered fandom. As far as what will actually be done to bring justice in these cases is anyone’s guess. I’ve lost hope, on so many fronts, when it comes to seeing the powerful and entitled receive the punishment due for their crimes.

Now, however, the sweltering sewer that is the Trump Show has managed to spew even further, more noxious material into an already overflowing vat of criminality and corruption.

On Monday, the FBI conducted a search on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, in Palm Beach, Florida. The search came with a legal warrant, as we now know, authorized by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, and signed off on, by an independent federal judge.

It takes a lot to have federal authorities raid a former president, so you have to believe that something was truly amiss for things to get this far.

What we do know is that Donald Trump walked out of the White House with boxes of classified documents. We know he attempted (and surely succeeded in untold other cases) to violate the Presidential Records Act, by flushing, burning, or ripping up/shredding documents that were meant to be preserved. The National Archives have reported that some of the documents they requested to be returned by Trump were sent back taped together, after an obvious attempt to destroy them.

Why? What possible reason could he have to try and destroy, or either walk away with all these federal documents?

While you ponder that, let’s see what Cornell Law says about “Treason.”

Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 807; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(2)(J), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)

I just wanted to take that brief side road, before veering off into the latest news of a corrupt man doing corrupt things.

The news being reported is that what the authorities were searching for in Trump’s base of criminal operations were actual classified documents related to nuclear weapons.

We know that around 15 boxes of material, including material listed as “classified” were recovered from Mar-a-Lago earlier this year. The fact that authorities are unconvinced that they’ve got the bulk of what they’re looking for, or that there may be even more sensitive information that Trump has refused to return to our government should alarm even the most devoted Trump disciple.

And while Trump and the usual suspects rail and howl about the injustice of holding a former president to the same standards of the law as commoners, Merrick Garland and the Justice Department have stepped up to request the unsealing of the warrant, so that the public can see exactly what they were looking for in the raid.

“The public’s clear and powerful interest in understanding what occurred under these circumstances weighs heavily in favor of unsealing,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in the court filing submitted on Thursday afternoon.

For his part, Trump has suggested he would allow for the warrant to be unsealed. The man who just pleaded the Fifth on over 440 questions asked of him by New York Attorney General Tish James, in yet another criminal probe, however, doesn’t appear to be an icon of transparency, so we’ll have to wait and see.

Another point worth noting is that the FBI knew exactly what they were looking for and had what appeared to be a somewhat detailed notion of where to look. It’s as if someone gave them information. How accurate that information was, remains to be seen.

There’s a lot of speculation, at this point, so for those of us who see through the façade of Trump and his ongoing grift, prudency dictates we keep our expectations in check.

Say, has anyone heard from Mark Meadows, lately? We know Trump’s lawyers told him to cut off contact with the man who was one of his most trusted acolytes, but why isn’t Meadows out there raging against the injustice of this raid?

Maybe I missed it, but you’d think he’d at least take a nail gun to the closest FBI field office.

Let’s be clear: The only reason a former president would have to steal sensitive material, such as documents related to nuclear weapons would be to pass that information to our enemies. There is no way for the Branch Trumpidians to MAGAsplain this one away, if it’s found to be true.

We know the Trumps are beholden to Russia and Saudi Arabia. We know Trump is personally enamored of Russia’s bloody tyrant, Vladimir Putin, as well as the insane Kim Jong-un, of North Korea.

What we don’t know is if there is anyone in Trump’s orbit with any remaining shreds of principle or national allegiance, that would stir them to step up and do the right thing.

We don’t know if Monday’s search turned up anything noteworthy. It is entirely possible that even if there was anything, it can no longer be found. Trump has been out of office for 19 months. That’s plenty of time to complete the task of destroying evidence.

At this point, we just don’t know, but if there is anything to this news, then Donald Trump should suffer the full extent of our nation’s laws against seditious and treasonous behavior.

No man should be above the law.