What exactly is the Logan Act and why is the media so focused on this, accusing Flynn and Trump of being in violation of it? The Logan Act was created in 218 years ago and no one has been convicted of it to date. However, the enemies of this president want him prosecuted for violating it.
The Logan Act (1 Stat. 613, 18 U.S.C. § 953, enacted January 30, 1799) is a United States federal law that criminalizes negotiation by unauthorized persons with foreign governments having a dispute with the United States.
When Obama directed a private citizen to Iran (beforehe was elected president in 2008) to encourage Iranian officials that they would have a friend in the White House he was in violation of this act? We also had basketball player Denise Rodman going to N Korea acting as ambassador meeting Kim Jong-un without the approval of the United States. Neither was brought up on charges nothing was ever mentioned. From what the law says both were should have been charged with a criminal act!
What we have here is the left grasping at any straw to try to take down this president. Pretty pathetic. All they can do is focus on is RUSSIA!
Bryon York writes in the Washington Journal:
The documents outlining Michael Flynn’s guilty plea in the Trump-Russia investigation do not allege collusion or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 election. They do, however, suggest that the Obama Justice Department was intensely interested in Flynn’s discussions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak about policy issues — sanctions against Russia, a United Nations resolution on Israel — during the presidential transition, when Barack Obama was still in the White House and Donald Trump was preparing to take office
From today’s perspective, nearly a year later, it has become apparent that, farfetched as it might seem, the Logan Act made it possible for the Obama administration to go after Trump. The ancient law that no one has ever been prosecuted for violating was the Obama administration’s flimsy pretense for a criminal prosecution of the incoming Trump team.
And by the way, when it finally came time to charge Flynn with a crime, did prosecutors, armed with the transcripts of those Flynn-Kislyak conversations, choose to charge him with violating the Logan Act? Of course not. But for the Obama team, the law had already served its purpose, months earlier, to entangle the new administration in a criminal investigation as soon as it walked in the door of the White House.
This was enacted as a political takedown, nothing was said about this Oct or Nov until they left lost the election then after the shock they used this law to target Trump. It is not, however, a crime for any elected official to reach out to a foreign government after he is elected during the transition period. He was elected in November of 2016 and therefore had a legal right to contact any government he felt necessary to do so.
The Obama Administration says that because Trump jested saying Russia to release Clinton’s emails he was scheming, how flimsy, nothing like grasping at straws!
There is nothing in Flynn’s plea agreement or “Statement of the Offense” that implicates President Trump in these conversations with Russia during the transition.
“It is common for representatives of other governments to get in touch with the incoming presidential administration to begin informal relationships and address relevant issues,” Clinton said. “It is not unusual. Transitions are fairly long. The incoming administration needs to inform itself of foreign policy. Getting to know people and foreign governments is widely done and beneficial to the U.S.”
Finally, it appears that Flynn and the transition team did not “interfere” with a diplomatic dispute, under the meaning of the Logan Act. To the contrary, Flynn sought ways to de-escalate tensions over U.S. sanctions by asking the Russian government to limit its response “in a reciprocal manner.”
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that actions by former national security adviser Michael Flynn during the presidential transition were lawful, and that he had had to fire him because Flynn had lied to the FBI and the vice president.
It is time to move on, nothing to see!