what could Trump actually be charged with?

[onenote]

48. Nope.

First of all, the Savage case is an old, lower court case in which it was held that an individual killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor did not die as a result of war because the United States had not formally declared war on Japan at the time of the attack. Thus, the court found that the insured's death was accidental and that his beneficiary could collect double indemnity under an accidental death policy. I'm not sure what value that citation has today where it is generally understood that a state of war can exist where there is armed conflict even in the absence of a formal war declaration.

Second, and more importantly, as a matter of both domestic and international law, cyber attacks are not currently recognized as acts of war. Under domestic law, an enemy is one who engages in hostilities against the US and hostilities are actions that fall within the rules of war (which is an international term of art).

With respect to cyber attacks, it may well be that at some point domestic and international law will be revised to recognize some or all such activities as acts of war. But that isn't the case today. One scholar who has studied and written on the issue has pointed out that "no state has claimed that a cyber-attack constitutes an “armed attack” giving rise to a right of self-defense
under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter. Nor has any state argued that cyber-attacks generally constitute a prohibited use of force." The same scholar points out that the members of NATO (including the US) have adopted an approach under which "a cyber-attack will obligate member states to “consult” with one another under Article 4 of the NATO treaty, but a cyber-attack will not
constitute an armed attack that obligates member states to assist one another under Article 5 of the treaty."

Ultimately, a state of war generally is not viewed to exist between two countries where there is an interruption of all peaceful relations between them. Thus, where countries maintain diplomatic relations, allow tourism and business travel and bilateral trade, they are not considered, as a matter of international law, to be in a state of war with one another.