A Boston Globe report came out Friday evening that former Secretary of State John Kerry has recently met with an Iranian official in order to save President Obamas signature Iran nuclear deal. This raises serious concerns that Kerry violated the Logan Act by meeting with a foreign official.
From Boston Globe:
"John Kerrys bid to save one of his most significant accomplishments as secretary of state took him to New York on a Sunday afternoon two weeks ago, where, more than a year after he left office, he engaged in some unusual shadow diplomacy with a top-ranking Iranian official.
He sat down at the United Nations with Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to discuss ways of preserving the pact limiting Irans nuclear weapons program. It was the second time in about two months that the two had met to strategize over salvaging a deal they spent years negotiating during the Obama administration, according to a person briefed on the meetings.
With the Iran deal facing its gravest threat since it was signed in 2015, Kerry has been on an aggressive yet stealthy mission to preserve it, using his deep lists of contacts gleaned during his time as the top US diplomat to try to apply pressure on the Trump administration from the outside. President Trump, who has consistently criticized the pact and campaigned in 2016 on scuttling it, faces a May 12 deadline to decide whether to continue abiding by its terms."
If the report is accurate, Kerry could have violated the Logan Act. The Logan Act, officially known as 18 U.S.C. §953, is "an old but rarely-invoked federal statute prohibiting unauthorized private diplomacy with foreign nations," according to the Federalist Society blog.
The Logan Act reads: "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 potential crime was not missed by conservatives on Twitter.
Poster Comment:
The Iranian Official (cloak room technician) handed stupid a sheet of paper on which was typed a message which stupid believed was a coded message. This message when delivered to the Trump State Department would yield something great about the Obama miasma.
The message believed coded by the epitome of stupidity
37OHSSV 0773H
Kerry wracked his small brain for hours and hours while flying back to Estados Unidos then another passenger told him that it appeared to be upside down.
John Kerry has secretly met with a top-ranking Iranian official multiple times to try to save the Iran deal & to look for ways to "apply pressure on the Trump admin from the outside." - Boston Globe
Democrats are literally working with America's enemies to stop Trump.