Word "Treason" in Hill testimony: Whoever helped Russians, get them out of government, “and probably they ought to be in jail” (Clip transcribed here)

Transcript of clip "Russian connections: An act of treason" on The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, ‘where Richard Painter, who worked in George W. Bush's White House Counsel Office, throws out the "T" word. He tells Lawrence O'Donnell that any American who helped the Russians influence the 2016 elections committed treason.’ ( watch clip here ) from MSNBC 03/23/17 (from CofA Blog, documenting the coup in USA today)

TRANSCRIPT 
Open w/clip of Richard Painter testifying on Capitol Hill March 23 2017

RP:  We need to know about any financial relationships between the President of the United States and foreign powers, whether it is a foreign power that spied on Americans, conducted espionage inside the United States apparently with the assistance of Americans who may have been working for the Trump campaign.

Whoever it is, as I say committed treason.

"Committed Treason"

(O’Donnell introduces Painter as Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota and expert on legal ethics who served under Bush 43.)

LO: What was the committee’s reaction to your testimony today especially on the Republican side?

RP: I don't think the members wanted to talk a lot about President Trump, the Republicans did not. The hearing was convened to talk about other issues, anything but Trump.

01:00

But I have a lot of concerns about the President’s refusal to disclose his tax returns, the fact we don’t know where the President is getting his money for his global business empire, at a time when another country has been conducting espionage inside the United States. 

We need more transparency in this administration, we need to get to the bottom of what happened with respect to the Russians, we need to find out who was helping the Russians, and we need to make sure those people are not in our government, and probably they ought to be in jail. …

02:00

RP:  There's not a serious investigation going on.  We need to have a special prosecutor.  We need to get that information and get it quickly because if there's somebody inside our government right now who is cooperating with the Russians and conducting spying activities… whoever it is is a grave security risk to this country and they need to be thrown out of the government. 

03:00

Anybody who had lied about contacts with the Russians would have been thrown out of the Bush Administration in twenty four hours.

We've had Flynn, Sessions, nobody is being forthright about this.

This is not the type of behavior that should be tolerated in a Republican administration or a Democratic administration, particularly lying about a foreign adversary that since the nineteen twenties has sought to destabilize the United States government through covert operations.  This is a very serious situation. 

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Watch clip here http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/russian-connections-an-act-of-treason-905291331881

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Posted by Kay Ebeling

CofA TRANSCRIPTS documenting the coup are here new ones added regularly. 

From the City of Angels Winging it / Malcolm Nance Transcript Project