Jared Kushner just flagrantly violating the Logan Act multiple times. Will anything come of it? Doubtful.
And the Saudis will play him like a fiddle.
One of the gulf countries, UAE?, said that he’s easily exploited.
Fucking duh. Why do you think they paid like a billion dollars for his shitty property?
Nobody has ever been found guilty of violating the Logan Act. Nobody has even been charged with it in over 150 years.
Why? Probably because prosecutors realize that in the modern era, a 1798 law that bans “commencing or carrying on any correspondence with a foreign government” would almost certainly be struck down on First Amendment grounds.
You do not have a first amendment right to negotiate a contract on behalf of an unwilling partner.
The Logan Act says nothing about contracts.
It bans “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”.
Trying to influence others is fundamentally protected by the First Amendment, even if (especially if!) your interests are not the same as those of the government.
It bans “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”.
What exactly do you think negotiating U.S.-Saudi diplomacy when he wasn’t tasked to by the government is doing?
He is trying to influence Saudi-US diplomatic relations, which we all have a First Amendment right to do.
He isn’t “negotiating a contract”, because only agents of the US government can negotiate contracts with the US.
What you quoted literally says it’s banned. I mean “with intent to influence” is right there in the text you quoted. Did you even read it?
Yes, I quoted the Logan Act to point out that it’s directly at odds with the First Amendment. A law that bans “influencing” someone will quickly be ruled unconstitutional as soon as anyone tries to enforce it.
There are many anachronistic laws that are still on the books but will be thrown out if anyone tries to enforce them today. For example, in some states homosexuality is technically banned, but those bans are unenforceable and people “flagrantly violate the law” every day.
Interesting that his law, signed into law by a founding father no less, is an anachronistic law, but the constitution is supposed to be rock solid and the law of the land. Looking at you, second amendment
you’re misrepresenting the first amendment and you know it. why are you like this? is this who you want to be?
pathetic.
International diplomacy without being an elected official or appointed by one is not protected speech. Using overly reductive language to make it sound like a campaign stop won’t change that.
The SCOTUS has made pretty clear that all speech is protected unless it falls into one of these categories:
- Incitement
- Obscenity
- Defamation
- Fraud
- Illegal advertising
- Fighting words
- Threats
- CSAM
“International diplomacy” isn’t among the exceptions, and therefore it’s protected.
Fraud certainly applies here.
Fraud requires deception. How does that apply here?
Conspiracy to defraud the state department and/or president