Hey, Why Isn't Anyone Screaming About Logan Act Violations By John Kerry?

Mohammad Javad Zarif and John Kerry – Caricatures by DonkeyHotey, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0/Original

One of the reasons Robert Mueller is blundering across our political landscape, frightening peasants and molesting livestock, lies in the decision by acting Attorney General and Resistansita Sally Yates that National Security Advisor-designee Michael Flynn was violating the Logan Act in his contacts with Russian officials. The Logan Act, officially known as 18 U.S.C. § 953, was enacted January 30, 1799, as a result of the never-ending spat between the Federalist party and the Democratic-Republican party that gave us all kinds of great laws like the Alien and Sedition Act and judicial decisions like Marbury vs. Madison. The Logan Act states:

§ 953. Private correspondence with foreign governments.

Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply himself, or his agent, to any foreign government, or the agents thereof, for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects.

I think this law is unconstitutional on its face and it is violated literally every day by multi-national corporations, celebrities, university professors, former administration officials and non-governmental organizations of all types. In Flynn’s case is was transparent bullsh** as Flynn was on the federal payroll as part of Donald Trump’s transition team and he was acting with authority of the president-elect and in that role, he had clear authority to negotiate with the Russians on any topic that suited his fancy.

Be that as it may, the fact is that the gut feeling by a political enemy of Donald Trump was enough to generate an investigation of his national security adviser, and that is the objective standard and level of proof needed to kick off a federal investigation. If you are a Republican. If you are a Democrat and opposing Trump’s foreign policy, well, the standards are different:

Former Secretary of State John Kerry disclosed that he has been conducting rogue diplomacy with top Iranian officials to salvage the landmark nuclear deal and push the Islamic Republic to negotiate its contested missile program, according to recent remarks.

Kerry, in an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt to promote his new book, said that he has met with Iranian Former Minister Javad Zarif—the former secretary’s onetime negotiating partner—three or four times in recent months behind the Trump administration’s back.

“I think I’ve seen him three or four times,” Kerry said, adding that he has been conducting sensitive diplomacy without the current administration’s authorization. Kerry said he has criticized the current administration in these discussions, chiding it for not pursuing negotiations from Iran, despite the country’s fevered rhetoric about the U.S. president.

Kerry’s comments are in line with previous reporting on his behind-the-scenes attempts to save the nuclear deal and ensure that Iran continues receiving billions in cash windfalls. These payments were brought to a halt by the Trump administration when it abandoned the nuclear agreement and reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran that have nearly toppled its economy and sparked a popular revolution.

Kerry said he met Zarif in Norway, Munich, and other international forums.

The question is, if John Kerry, by his own admission, is meeting with various misogynistic mullahs to try to help Iran evade the impact of US sanctions or to salvage the Iran nuclear deal, isn’t he in violation of the Logan Act?

I assume MSM & Dems who got vapors & cried “Logan Act!” when 46 senators & I released letter defending Senate’s treaty power will accuse ⁦@JohnKerry⁩ of Logan Act violation.

Kidding re Logan Act, a stupid, dead-letter law. Not kidding re hypocrisy. https://t.co/4Y41Mck6RO

— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) September 12, 2018

Of course he won’t be. But if we are ever going to stop this bullsh** of one set of rules for the Democrats and another for everyone else, the FBI should be directed to pay Mr. Kerry a visit and a federal prosecutor should be directed to seek an indictment. This would serve two great goods for the sake of the Republic. First, the left would stop using this obviously unenforceable law to club people with and maybe we can get either a court to declare it unconstitutional or convince Congress to repeal it.