As political tensions continue to escalate in these final hours leading up to the scheduled Trump “inauguration”, I felt compelled to clarify why Representative John Lewis, and MANY others, say he’s not a legitimate president. As I worked through the following five issues, I’m now convinced it’s much more than a discussion about boycotting the inauguration– the event must be cancelled or at least delayed until we get resolution on the following issues, especially Treason:

1) TREASON (collusion with Russia) during the US election process (elaboration below)
2) Lying and “dirty tricks” by Trump during the election process
3) Constitutional Violation (s)
4) Failure of the Electoral College
5) Failure of the FBI (disparate treatment of the candidates)

Russian Influence is becoming more and more apparent and it extends far beyond the cyber “hacking” and leaks that have been discussed. I’m not talking about Trump’s alleged kinky sexual preferences which got a lot of play on social media when the secret MI6 dossier was revealed.  The real issue is collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials. It’s fact that Trump’s appointees and former employees were in Russia during the campaign. What were they doing? They give all kinds of excuses, but investigations are pending and until that issue is resolved, TREASON is on the table.  At the very least, there’s the Logan Act (1 Stat. 613, 18 U.S.C. § 953) and espionage to consider.

How can someone involved in foreign collusion take our most sacred oath? Trump was not elected “fair and square” with such issues unresolved. At least postpone the inauguration until we have answers.  Once Trump has the Ultimate power, who can contain or control him? He could launch nukes and/or take unfathomable Executive Actions putting us all at risk. This is not a joke. It’s essential to pause and fully investigate these matters. So much so, that the other issues and accusations pale in comparison. However, if he’s exonerated from the Russian problems, the other four still matter. I’ll come back to Treason and its penalty at the end.

There are entire databases devoted to tracking the daily, hourly and sometimes moment-by-moment LIES tweeted and repeated by Trump. He cannot open his mouth without more lies pouring out. During the recent press conference, I lost count. While it may not be illegal to lie (which seems ridiculous), it certainly destroys the moral authority of a leader. Dirty tricks resulted in the eventual impeachment of Richard Nixon. Again, we don’t know where the investigations into Russian influence will lead, but DNC information was compromised. That was enough to take down Nixon.

Conflicts of interest that violate the US Constitution: Trump did nothing to resolve his issue with the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution at his delayed press conference (01.11.2017) Even though his attorney claimed he’s not in violation, that is in dispute by several ethics attorneys including Republican attorney Richard Painter who advised President Bush (43) on ethics, Norman Eisen, a former US Ambassador and ethics attorney with long career as a government watchdog (investigated Enron), Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig and many others. Those three are on record saying Trump will be in violation the moment he takes the Oath.

Our antiquated Electoral College had one important job to do this past election cycle. That was to serve as the final “fail-safe” to over-ride the election of someone “not endowed with the requisite qualifications.” They failed. The EC had the authority to prevent this exact situation– to stop an unqualified demagogue like Donald Trump. Their “faithless” rubber stamp vote proves the EC must be eliminated. Over 73 MILLION Americans actively voted against Trump– 10 MILLION more than voted for him. 65.8 million for Hillary Clinton, and another 7.8 million voted for the Libertarian ticket, other third party or write-in candidates. Trump received less than 63 million votes.

We now know that FBI Director James Comey was investigating both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during the election cycle. In what appears to be partisan pressure, Comey “reopened” the Clinton investigation (into the never-ending email issue), discussed it publicly, and then closed the case again in the final days of the election process. He still refuses, however, to confirm the Trump investigation. This is why we need a special select Congressional Committee to investigate Russian collusion and possible treason…  IMMEDIATELY!

During the drafting of the Constitution treason was punishable not only by death, but by an exceptionally cruel method of execution designed to enhance the suffering of the traitor. As described in colonial documents:
“ the traitor is hanged by the neck, then cut down alive, that his entrails are then taken out, and burned, while he is yet alive,” and “that his head is cut off, and that his body is then divided into four parts.”

Our Framers intended to limit a traitor’s death for alleged subversion to instances of “levying war against the United States, or adhering to enemies of the United States.” It layman’s terms, the latter means assisting a foreign enemy (according to several attorneys.) It certainly appears Trump’s campaign did that.

So, instead of a big gaudy celebration in a few days, maybe we’ll have a different sort of spectacle. As MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow says, “Watch this space.”