“Last Friday, Donald Trump reportedly held an Oval Office meeting that included his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, ousted campaign lawyer Sidney Powell and her client, former national security adviser Michael Flynn (who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in connection with special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe but was later pardoned by Trump). Flynn had recently appeared on the far-right outlet Newsmax suggesting that Trump could order ‘military capabilities’ to ‘rerun an election’ in swing states, and that ‘martial law has been instituted 64 times.’ Meanwhile, Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward urged Trump to ‘Cross the Rubicon’ and impose martial law to claim an election that the Electoral College, not to mention several dozen court rulings, has now certified he lost.”

“Public reaction to Flynn’s “coup” proposal – which he’d shared previously through a press release on Twitter from the right-wing group ‘We The People’ have been furious and damning. They include calls for Trump’s impeachment, claims of treason and charges of criminal sedition. With less than a month until President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in, impeachment seems unlikely even if it might be richly deserved. Treason entails levying war or giving aid to ‘Enemies’ of the United States, so it doesn’t apply here. Sedition, which involves overt conduct aimed at subverting the government, might seem like a better legal fit. Historically, sedition laws have been used to target critics of the government, and some of those prosecutions have run afoul of First Amendment protections. But the First Amendment does not uniformly protect speech if it incites violence. Was Flynn inciting violence by proposing the military be used to seize voting machines? During the now-infamous Oval Office meeting, chief of staff Mark Meadows and White House counsel Pat Cipollone protested vehemently, but were there two or more people in agreement to overthrow the government? Was Flynn’s social media campaign a violation of the rule against circulating any printed matter advocating the overthrow of the government?” – Politico.