Professor Larson cited in L.A. Times op-ed weighing definition of 'treason'

An Aug. 4 Los Angeles Times op-ed by Virginia Heffernan asked “Does accusing Trump of treason go too far?” and cited Professor Carlton F.W. Larson in answering yes, it does, technically.

Heffernan details the ongoing, boisterous #KremlinAnnex protest at the White House. The protesters, spurred by Trump’s controversial joint press conference with President Vladimir Putin in July in Helsinki, Finland -- at which Trump failed to denounce Russian interference in the 2016 election --  often hoist signs reading “treason.”

But Trump’s behavior in Helsinki does not meet the constitutional definition of treason, Heffernan points out, crediting Larson for clarifying the point. Treason only exists when it involves an enemy of the United States, when the U.S. is at war.

“But, rhetorically, the T-word nicely suits Trump’s bowing-and-scraping routine with Russian President Vladimir Putin,” Heffernan writes in the op-ed.

Professor Larson is one of the nation’s leading authorities on the law of treason and is the author of the forthcoming book The Trials of Allegiance: Treason, Juries, and the American Revolution (Oxford University Press).