Author: Kenneth Foard McCallion

Publisher: Bryant Park Press

ISBN: 978-0997929232

When I picked up a copy of Kenneth Foard McCallion's Treason in the White House: The Rise and Fall of Individual #1 a redacted Mueller Report was just released, and although the report found no collusion on the part of Trump, there was a great deal concerning obstruction of justice. However, very little, if any, was mentioned concerning the crime of treason.

McCallion is a nationally recognized expert on constitutional law, especially the impeachment clause, and has significant expertise in the fields of civil RICO, criminal law, and the history of Treason and Espionage in U.S. History. In the early part of his career, he devoted much of his time in high-profile organized crime prosecutions and working on major labor racketeering cases, including some investigations that dealt with labor racketeering involving the construction of Trump Tower and other major construction projects in the New York area.

He also worked on numerous sensitive counterintelligence investigations involving Russian espionage in the U.S., requiring coordination between and among U.S. Department of Justice and FBI agents with the CIA and U.S. State Department.

McCallion received his B.A. from Yale and his J.D. from Fordham Law School. Previous publications include Shoreham and the Rise and Fall of Nuclear Power, and The Essential Guide to Donald Trump.
In other words, McCallion is no “babe in the woods” when it comes to recognizing the crime of treason as well as Russian meddling into US affairs.

Although much of the material presented in the book was not new to me, it did succeed in condensing a great deal of research into an easily accessible book as to the unethical as well as criminal behavior of Donald Trump that possibly could lead to his impeachment based on treason. It is of particular value to those readers who have very little previous knowledge of the many instances where if Donald Trump were an ordinary citizen, he would probably be dressed in an orange jumpsuit in a Federal prison in the USA.

The opening pages of Treason in the White House are handy if you want to understand who were the Russian actors that infiltrated Trump's election campaign. What McCallion provides is a list and brief description of seventy-eight characters who had links in one way or another with Trump's presidential campaign. Not all are Russians, but those, who were not, went along knowing full well that they were not precisely acting within the law.

Some of these actors have been well-publicized in the media such as Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen, others you may not have heard of as Sergey N. Gogkov, head of Russian state-run bank under American sanctions, which Russian ambassador Kislyak said had a direct line to Putin. Gogkov met with Jared Kushner at Trump Tower in December 2016 after Kislyak suggested the meeting, Jared claimed it was a social meeting while Kislyak said it was about Kushner's real estate business.

From this introduction, McCallion reminds us of the movie The Manchurian Candidate where his Communist captors brainwash a Korean War soldier and then allow him to “escape” back to U.N. Lines. He returns to the USA to a hero's welcome. However, Russian and Chinese agents secretly planned to use Shaw to subvert and destroy American democracy, and almost succeed in their objectives. With this in mind, we have to ask ourselves did Russia see in Trump their “useful idiot” that they would be able to manipulate?

It is to be noted that the Russians were very interested in lifting the punishing sanctions that had been imposed on them by Obama. On the other hand, Trump, who is more interested in himself, was determined to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. He is not interested in the Rule of Law or upholding the US Constitution. Lying comes naturally to him and, I doubt if he even knows what treason is. As stated in the book: “One thing is for sure, the Russians definitely have Trump's 'number' and that-either through flattery, economic inducements, compromising material (kompromat) or other factors-they now have the President of the United States in their pocket and can manipulate him whenever they please, to the benefit of Russia and the detriment of the US.”

The book divides itself into fourteen chapters and ends with an epilogue, timeline, and endnotes. Topics covered are the Siberian Candidate, traitors in the White House, Trump's early years growing up, Russia's useful idiot, Trump's dodging of the draft, money laundering, Trump's connection to Mafia figures, a brief history of treason, why Russia is not a friend of the USA, the President's pro-Russian men, Trump's pro-Russian platform, treason at Trump Tower, democracy in crisis, illiberal democracy, and can a sitting President be indicted for treason or other crimes? As you can see, any one of these topics makes for some interesting bed-time reading that may keep you up at night! It also serves as a great companion read to the Mueller report that will help us understand the findings of Mueller and what are the ramifications and consequences that will unfold in the days, weeks, months and probably years ahead.