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Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s, D-Md., sudden trip to El Salvador to try to free deportee Kilmar Abrego Garcia is getting the attention of critics who believe the Maryland Democrat may have violated a 1799 law prohibiting unauthorized diplomacy.
The Logan Act – named for former Pennsylvania Sen. George Logan – stipulates a fine and/or imprisonment for Americans corresponding with foreign officials “with intent to influence the[ir] measures … in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States.”
Logan met with French diplomat Charles de Talleyrand after Paris rebuffed President John Adams, and he attempted to entreat him – in part via a letter from Vice President Thomas Jefferson – to end the Franco-American hostilities of the so-called “Quasi War.”
In that way, several prominent conservatives questioned whether Van Hollen’s actions similarly violated the law.
MORE DEMS WORK TO JOIN VAN HOLLEN IN EL SALVADOR TO PUSH FOR ALLEGED GANG MEMBER’S RETURN TO US
Chris Van Hollen, right, speaks to Kilmar Garcia, left, after visiting him in El Salvador. (Reuters)
“Why hasn’t this U.S. senator been arrested for violation of the Logan Act? It’s illegal to conduct your own foreign policy,” longtime Republican consultant Roger Stone tweeted.
WMAL host Vince Coglianese read the Logan Act statute aloud and asked his audience whether Van Hollen had done what the code outlined.
“Is Chris Van Hollen violating the Logan Act?” Coglianese said. “Because this is what they accused General [Michael] Flynn of doing … the incoming national security advisor … who was merely having conversations with foreign diplomats [after] people had chosen President Donald Trump.”
Democrats previously seized on the Logan Act when Flynn contacted Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak prior to Trump being sworn in the first time, which ultimately led to an FBI probe and tanked his public-service career.
Notes from former FBI agent Peter…
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