We'll start here:
PA gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano says that Mark Esper's efforts to keep Trump from taking the country in a dark direction were "treasonous" and a "danger to our Republic greater than anything else that has ever happened." pic.twitter.com/CazodiWQsq
— The Republican Accountability Project (@AccountableGOP) May 9, 2022
Senator Mastriano is speaking with Steve Bannon. Bannon is currently under indictment (two counts) for Contempt of Congress. He was also indicted for wire fraud. The case was dismissed because he was pardoned by Donald Trump on the latter's last day of office.
And as we all know, PA State Senator Doug Mastriano has been subpoenaed by the same committee that issued the subpoenas that led to Bannon's contempt indictment.
Transcript:
Bannon: Could you believe your ears about what Esper is talking about about this coup against President Trump?
Mastriano: Yea, Steve, this is really disturbing. It really is treasonous activity, I know the left throws that around like it's just another word.
The idea - and we debated this in many of the Army schools I attended like the Air Command Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base in civil military relations, and the idea that we have a shadow government that's undermining the president and developing and executing policy outside of is treasonous and it needs to be pursued and it needs to be squashed and stopped because this is a danger to our republic, Greater than anything else that's ever happened.
Hm. So what was some of the stuff that Esper undermined?
Let's go to what former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said on 60 Minutes:
During the late spring of 2020, it was not a foreign crisis, but the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, that Esper calls a turning point in his time as secretary of defense. On the night of May 31 in Washington, protests for racial justice were marred by rioters who set parts of Washington ablaze and, Esper says, enraged President Trump. At a meeting the next morning, Esper told us, the commander-in-chief was on the verge of ordering 10,000 active-duty troops into the streets of the Capital.
Norah O'Donnell: What was the most disturbing thing that the president said during that meeting on June 1st?
Mark Esper: The president is ranting at-- at the room. He's using a lot of, you know-- foul language. You know, "You-- y-- you all are f-in' losers," right? And then he says it to the vice president, Mike Pence. He-- he's usin' the same language and he's lookin' at Pence.
Norah O'Donnell: He called Mike Pence--
Mark Esper: H-- he di--
Norah O'Donnell: --an f-in' loser?
Mark Esper: --he didn't-- he didn't call him directly, but he was looking at him when he was saying it. And it really caught my attention, and I thought, that-- we're at a different spot now. He's gonna finally give a direct order to deploy paratroopers into the streets of Washington, D.C. And I'm thinking with weapons and bayonets. This would be horrible.
Norah O'Donnell: What specifically was he suggesting that the U.S. military should do to these protesters?
Mark Esper: He says, "Can't you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something." And he's suggesting that that's what we should do, that we should bring in the troops and shoot the protesters.
Norah O'Donnell: The commander in chief was suggesting that the U.S. military shoot protesters? American protesters.
Mark Esper: Yes, in the streets--
Norah O'Donnell: American protesters.
Mark Esper: --of our nation's capital. That's right. Shocking.
So to the indicted Bannon and the subpoenaed Mastriano, stopping Donald Trump from giving the order to active military troops to shoot protestors in Washington DC is (now wait for it) treason.
Stopping the order to shoot protesters is treason.
I would say that treason is working behind the scenes to overturn a free, fair and legal election that the candidate that you supported lost. That's what I would call treason, Senator Mastriano.
Esper defending himself against this "disloyalty" charge with this:
I never disobeyed a direct order from the president of the United States. I was fortunate that he often didn't give direct orders. But otherwise, I did what I thought was best for the nation and for our security, and completely within the authority granted to me under the law.
And:
My oath is to the Constitution, not to [Donald Trump].
You took an oath, didn't you State Senator? You took an oath to "support, defend and obey" The Constitution, am I right?
Please correct me if I am wrong.
And yet you participated in a coup attempt to thwart The Constitution by attempting to overturn the 2020 election.
Doesn't that make you the traitor here, Senator?
