Donald Trump Is ‘A Traitor To The Laws Of The United States,’ Says Anthony Scaramucci As He Escalates Attacks
Anthony Scaramucci, the former Donald Trump administration communications director who has since become one of Trump’s harshest critics in conservative circles, escalated his ongoing verbal attacks against his former boss on Sunday. In an interview with CNN, quoted by the media-watchdog site MediaIte, Scaramucci accused Trump of behavior that reveals him as “a traitor” to the Constitution and to “the laws of the United States.”
Scaramucci served as White House director of communications in the Trump administration for a brief, eventful 11 days in July 2017. Despite his previous, seemingly unswerving support of Trump, Scaramucci emerged over the summer of this year as one of Trump’s most outspoken conservative foes. In August, Scaramucci was reportedly working alongside another top conservative Trump critic, journalist Bill Kristol, to find a candidate who could credibly oppose Trump in the 2020 Republican primary elections.
But while Scaramucci has been relentless in his attacks on Trump’s mental stability and competence, in the Sunday interview with CNN host Brian Stelter, Scaramucci made perhaps his most serious accusation so far, labeling Trump a “traitor.”
Scaramucci said that an “overwhelming cascade” of evidence would soon make his claim undeniable.
“There’s a combination of incompetence, there’s a combination of a destruction of the executive branch of the United States. In addition to the lawlessness and traitorous-like behavior,” Scaramucci told Stelter.
When Stelter asked Scaramucci if he felt that the term “traitorous-like” was too strong to describe Trump’s actions, Scaramucci refused to back down.
“What word would you use?” Scaramucci asked Stelter, referring to Trump’s July 25 phone call with the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.
In that call, Trump reportedly attempted to hold back military aid to Ukraine until Zelensky opened an investigation into Trump’s prospective 2020 election opponent, Joe Biden.
“You’ve become a traitor of the Constitution and a traitor to the laws of the United States,” Scaramucci said of Trump’s alleged actions during the call. “Do you want to pretend that it’s not traitorous behavior?”
This week has been a busy one for Trump, when it comes to dealing with what Scaramucci described as an “overwhelming cascade” of evidence against him. The U.S. House of Representatives, currently carrying out an impeachment inquiry against Trump, released 2,677 pages of testimony from multiple witnesses in the inquiry. All of the released testimony was reviewed by a team of CNN reporters.
Trump has claimed that the impeachment inquiry is “based on a single phone call of congratulations to the President of Ukraine,” as Trump described the call with Zelensky. But according to the CNN reporters, the call is just one small element in the impeachment investigation.
The testimony released this week “shows how controversy over Trump’s Ukraine policy had been brewing inside the US government for months,” the reporters wrote, saying that the testimony shows that Trump was deeply involved in the plot to withhold military aid until Ukraine opened a Biden investigation.
