Former Congressman Says He Will Literally Engage in Armed Rebellion if Trump Loses

By Ian Millhiser, ThinkProgress

27 October 16

He’s suggesting actual treason.

oe Walsh, who was a United States congressman from 2011 until 2013, declared on Wednesday afternoon that he will take up arms if Donald Trump is not elected to the presidency.

Walsh, a man who at one point had the power to help write the laws of the United States, has a history of making violent threats against his political enemies. Last July, for example, Walsh tweeted — and then promptly deleted — a declaration of war against “black lives matter punks.”

For the record, Walsh’s apparent plan to form a band of individuals to take up arms against the lawfully elected leader of the United States most likely meets the legal definition of treason. Under federal law, “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.”

Though treason prosecutions are unusual, previous federal cases have allowed such prosecutions to move forward when armed individuals join together against the United States.