Liberals have whined for years about the “Israel exception” where Republicans are accused of violating the Logan Act with regard to Israel. But if Democrats don’t violate the Logan Act in Israel, they certainly feel empowered to do so in the rest of the world.
1970: John Kerry, as an inactive Navy reserve officer, met during wartime with enemy officials while his government was trying to conduct negotiations with them.
1983: Ted Kennedy secretly offered to help the Russians “counter the militaristic politics of Reagan” during the Cold War.
1984: Top Congressional Democrats including Jim Wright, Edward Boland, Lee Hamilton, and Stephen Solarz wrote the “Dear Commandante” letter to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, which stated, “As members of the U.S. House of Representatives… We have been, and remain, opposed to U.S. support for military action directed against the people or government of Nicaraugua.”¹
1987: House Speaker Jim Wright (D-TX) took it upon himself to conduct negotiations with Ortega. Nor was he the only Democrat involved – several were caught during CIA surveillance of the Sandinistas.
1992: Judiciary Committee Republicans sought a special prosecutor to investigate recent newspaper reports that a consultant who may have said he had links to the Clinton campaign sought to stall a final accord on reduced trade barriers after six years of negotiations among 108 nations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. (They were denied, reducing the story to he said, she said.)
2002: Democrats David Bonior, Jim McDermott, and Mike Thompson took what turned out to be a junket sponsored by Saddam Hussein to Baghdad to oppose the embargo and the upcoming war in Iraq.
2006: Senator Ben Nelson met with Syrian President Bashar Assad, “without the authority and contrary to the wishes of the Bush administration, including the State Department.”
2007: Howard Dean admitted, “I am trying to build relationships with other governments in preparation for a Democratic takeover. I want to make clear that there is an opposition in America and that we are ready to take power and that when we do, we are going to have much better relationships with them.”
Nancy Pelosi also met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in 2007, along with Congressmen Keith Ellison (D-MN), Nick Rahall (D-WV), Tom Lantos (D-CA), Henry Waxman (D-CA), and David Hobson (R-OH).
2008: Then-Senator Obama tried to talk the Iraqi government into delaying the draw-down agreement in 2008.
Are all these examples actual violations of the Logan Act? ThatÂ’s for a court to decide, but the problem is that one never will. Government officials, especially Democrats, violate it with impunity because theyÂ’re confident theyÂ’ll never be prosecuted. ItÂ’s rare they even get bad press for doing so. If these were social visits, perhaps Democrats should reconsider who theyÂ’re hanging out with.
