OK, I think this may be a bit of a stretch, but the lawyer in this Daily Beast article is a specialist in national security law and is no wild lefty. I’ve been following him on Twitter for a long time and he’s by no means a Democratic partisan.
“It’s probably the most egregiously stupid thing I’ve ever heard a party nominee say ever,” said Bradley Moss, a lawyer specializing in national security law.
Moss believes that there’s a legal case to charge Trump for his comments, because he was calling for Russia to take “imminent lawless action,” which is speech not covered by the First Amendment.
Moss added that Trump could theoretically be charged as a conspirator under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
“You could argue what Trump was urging Russia to do was hack Hillary’s server and release the contents to the media—conspiring with them to hack into a private server and release confidential information to the public,” Moss explained.
He goes on to say that DOJ would probably be reluctant to press such a case since it would be perceived as political, but it’s a delicious thought, isn’t it?