The Logan Act – Using a Dead Letter Law to Bludgeon Trump
Posted by Joseph Klein on FrontPageMag.com
Still No Evidence of Trump Campaign Collusion With the Russians
The 218-year-old Logan Act is receiving heightened attention lately as a possible club to use in bringing down the Trump administration.
This archaic criminal statute prohibits U.S. citizens from communicating with any foreign government or its officers, in the absence of authorization by the U.S. government, “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.”
In a New York Times op-ed article by two University of Chicago Law School professors, Daniel Hemel and Eric Posner, entitled “Why the Trump Team Should Fear the Logan Act,” the professors argue that Michael Flynn’s communications in December 2016 with the Russian ambassador to the United States during the transition period leading up to the inauguration of President Trump violates the Logan Act.
Moreover, they claim that Mr. Flynn’s filings as part of his guilty plea to one count of making materially false statements to the FBI “further reveal that a ‘very senior member’ of the Trump transition team almost certainly violated the Logan Act, too” by directing Mr. Flynn to convey certain messages to the Russian ambassador.
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