PrintRep. Jamie Raskin threatens foreign leaders who cooperate with President Trump, 'when we come back to power — and we will'
Do we have a naked violation of the Logan Act which prohibits private citizens from carrying out their own 'diplomacy' to influence a foreign power?
Well, consider this, from far-left lawyer and congressman, Jamie Raskin, from a New York Post editorial:
Putting partisan politics far above patriotism (if he has any), top Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin is outright threatening vengeance on foreign leaders who work with the Trump administration.
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Raskin (D-Md.) issued it on the “Pod Save America” podcast, after progressive host Tommy Vietor cited (surely left-wing) Latin America experts as urging Democrats to warn off “any foreign government that participates in the extraordinary rendition of American citizens.”
Reality check: No one is proposing any “extraordinary rendition of American citizens.”
Democrats keep trying to confuse people into thinking Team Trump is doing that, as cover for their efforts to fight the administration’s deportations of illegal migrants — which is not remotely authoritarian.
Naturally, Raskin ran with Vietor’s implied point, specifically pointing to El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele as someone Dems “are not going to look kindly upon” “when we come back to power — and we will.”
His complaint is that Bukele refuses to send Kilmar Abrego Garcia (a Salvadoran citizen) back to the United States.
Which is pretty outrageous. What he's issuing is a threat to a foreign leader who had the temerity to help out the United States in taking back deported citizens as is lawful in both countries. Raskin doesn't like the law, so he's vowing to hurt the foreign leaders who follow that law, which under the Logan Act he has no right to do.
According to the Federalist Society:
The Logan Act, 18 U.S.C. §953, is an old but rarely-invoked federal statute prohibiting unauthorized private diplomacy with foreign nations. The Act provides:
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.
The key elements thus are (1) a communication with a foreign government; (2) without authority of the United States; (3) for the purpose of influencing the actions of the foreign government in relation to a dispute with the United States or of defeating U.S. policy.
Congress passed the Act – officially titled “An act for the punishment of certain Crimes therein specified” – in 1799 and has not materially modified it since.
Now President Bukele has to make his own calculations based not on his dealings with President Trump but also on what he thinks Trump's opponents may want or do if he can't keep both sides happy. That's a pretty crummy and untenable position to put a foreign leader in, particularly one who has just accomodated his Maryland colleague, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, in letting him meet Abrego Garcia in San Salvador as he wanted. He didn't have to do that, after all.
But Maryland Men (of whatever citizenship they may be) aren't a grateful lot.
Raskin in fact is one of the most repulsive members of Congress. He "investigated" President Trump for laying a wreath on the Arlington graves of the soldiers and sailors killed in the final withdrawal from Afghanistan last year, after their families requested it.
His hatred for President Trump is so intense he vowed to prevent President Trump from taking office even after he got elected to the presidency for the third time.
Sound like a guy with anti-democratic proclivities?
The guy is constantly harping about rule of law and due process and all the other tools the ambulance-chasing lawyer in him tells himself he's acting on behalf of.
But in reality, he's as anti-democratic as they come, a true fascist in twisting the law to his own ends. He's got the legalism of Lavrenty Beria in him, seeking every way possible to stop President Trump through the abuse of the law. "Show me the man, and I'll show you the crime," the Soviet henchmen used to bray.
Now he's stepped over the line, veering into the Logan Act against foreign meddling in a crazed bid to stop Trump from repatriating criminals to the countries of their citizenships.
Pam Bondi's got a lot on her plate as Attorney General. But this activity has to be answered. Make Raskin answer for his Trump derangement, which is getting him into obviously shaky legal ground. If he's so intent on taking down President Trump through the misuse of the law, then it's high time he got a taste of his own medicine, before he or his fellow leftists can cook up yet another stunt.
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