Bill Weld, GOP presidential challenger, says Trump committed 'treason' punishable by 'death'

Republican presidential challenger Bill Weld said Monday that President Trump committed “treason” punishable by death during his controversial phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Talk about pressuring a foreign country to interfere with and control a U.S. election,” the former Massachusetts governor told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“It couldn’t be clearer, and that’s not just undermining democratic institutions, that is treason,” he said. “It’s treason pure and simple, and the penalty for treason under the U.S. code is death. That’s the only penalty. The penalty under the Constitution is removal from office, and that might look like a pretty good alternative to the president if he could work out a plea deal.”

Mr. Trump has balked at calls for his impeachment after he allegedly repeatedly pressured the Ukrainian government to investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden and his son Hunter, who served on the board of Burisma Holdings, a major Ukrainian energy company, when his father was still in office.

Mr. Trump has admitted speaking to the Ukranian president in July about Hunter Biden but said he did “absolutely nothing wrong.”

Mr. Weld said the allegations call for Mr. Trump to be removed from office.

“The grounds for removal of office, impeachment … are treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors,” he said. “We don’t have to worry about bribery anymore, although I think he’s committed that. We don’t have to worry about other high crimes and misdemeanors, although I think he committed many, he’s such a lawless man. We’ve got treason and we don’t have to dribble around the court, we can go right for the hoop.