General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Indictments Today [View all]H2O Man
(73,709 posts)And it is different. Those differences create a gray area in this case, that would make a prosecution for treason risky, versus a RICO or similar charges, which are a pretty sure thing. Prosecutors tend to avoid risks when there are equally good sure things.
First, to try this as treason would require the federal government to hold that "meddling" in foreign elections is warfare. That would be admitting that a large amount of US foreign policy since WW2 has been literal acts of war. While that may be accurate, our government isn't likely to task that approach.
Second, it is not as clearly defined as selling government secrets -- say, blueprints for weapons, or identifying CIA agents. Rather, it was accepting stolen information about an opposition party, which is not "the government," as well as accepting financial rewards by way of money laundering. These are far, far easier to prove to a jury as a series of criminal acts as part of a RICO charge.