A meeting to discuss sedition is a direct violation of 18 U.S. Code § 2384, which makes it a crime for two or more persons to conspire to overthrow, put down, or to oppose by force the authority of the United States government. Even if it takes place in the Oval Office.

The discussion of how to use martial law—if paired with any overt act to do so in the next 29 days—could qualify as a crime under this statute.

Powell and Flynn are not members of the US Government. Their advocacy of using martial law to defeat the laws of the electoral college could amount to a conspiracy under this statute if any involved undertake overt acts in furtherance of the effort.

I want to be ABUNDANTLY clear—sedition laws are rarely used and not clear cut or tossed around easily. But the President meeting with cohorts to discuss directing the military to act on his behalf after electoral laws have been followed is about as close as a POTUS can get.

I’m sure there are constitutional scholars out there who might scoff at this take—that’s okay by me.

If the Commander-in-Chief sitting in the Oval discussing the possibility of using the military to obstruct an election isn’t conspiring sedition, who is?