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Trump accused of breaching the Logan Act -

Donald Trump's comment that he met with Vladimir Putin after leaving the White House has again prompted questions of whether or not the former president is in breach of the Logan Act.

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Unlawful communications -

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, made the remark during the presidential election campaign debate with Kamala Harris at Philadelphia's National Constitution Center, held on September 10.

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Claims that he saw Putin -

Trump claimed he saw the Russian president after his term of office had ended, although as Newsweek has pointed out, it's not clear whether Trump misspoke about meeting Putin after leaving the White House.

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What exactly is the Logan Act? -

Misspoken or otherwise, Trump's utterance resulted in social media users accusing him of violating the Logan Act. But what exactly is the Logan Act?

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The Logan Act -

The Logan Act is a United States federal law that criminalizes the negotiation of a dispute between the United States and a foreign government by an unauthorized American citizen.

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George Logan (1753–1821) -

Enacted in January 1799, it's named after Pennsylvania statesman George Logan, who in 1798 traveled to France as a private citizen to meet with government officials, ostensibly to settle the Quasi-War.

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The Quasi-War -

The Quasi-War was a limited naval war against French privateers who were seizing US shipping in the Caribbean. The conflict in memorable for the capture by the USS Constellation of the French frigate L'Insurgente.

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Seat of power -

The Quasi-War itself was sparked by the XYZ Affair, a diplomatic and political spat involving a confrontation between the United States and Republican France. Pictured is the presidential mansion in Philadelphia, occupied at the time by President John Adams.

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John Adams (1735–1826) -

In 1797, President John Adams dispatched three US envoys to negotiate a commercial agreement to protect US shipping after the Americans had incensed Paris by passing the Jay Treaty in 1794. The treaty smoothed relations and expanded commercial ties with Britain, France's enemy.

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Snubbed in Paris -

In Paris, the representatives were approached by three French agents (identified as X, Y, and Z in diplomatic correspondence) who demanded bribes and a loan before formal negotiations could begin. Outraged by such behavior, the Americans refused and returned home. The incident precipitated the outbreak of the Quasi-War.

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Logan travels to France -

Although Logan was successful in his trip to France, concluding a pact whereby France ceased all detrimental actions against US merchant ships, he was heavily criticized upon his return stateside.

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Accused of treason -

Back in the United States and despite his efforts, Logan was accused by his political opponents of treason.

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Alexander Hamilton (1755–1804) -

A Jeffersonian Republican, Logan was denounced by anti-Jeffersonian Federalists (the Federalist Party dominated the national government under Alexander Hamilton from 1789 to 1801).

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Signed into law -

To make sure such an episode would never occur again, Congress passed the Logan Act on September 30, 1799. The Act prevents any individual from corresponding with a foreign government without permission from the US government.

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Prosecutions are rare -

According to the Federalist Society, only two people have ever been prosecuted for violating the Logan Act.

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Francis Flournoy -

In 1803, a private citizen, Francis Flournoy, was indicted for penning an article in a Kentucky newspaper advocating that western US territories secede and form a separate nation allied with France.

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Jacob Levy -

Forty-nine years later, in 1852, Jacob Levy, a US citizen residing in Mexico, was indicted for writing a letter to the president of Mexico urging him not to sign a pending treaty with the United States. Both prosecutions were quietly dropped before trial.

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No convictions -

In fact, no one has ever been convicted of violating the Act, and no indictment has been sought since Jacob Levy's brush with the law.

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George McGovern -

Over the years, the Logan Act has occasionally been raised in foreign policy disputes. For example, in 1975 senators John Sparkman and George McGovern traveled to Cuba and met with officials there, including meeting Fidel Castro face-to-face. Quizzed on his return to the United States, McGovern explained: "I made it clear that I had no authority to negotiate on behalf of the United States—that I had come to listen and learn..."

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Jesse Jackson -

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan invoked the Logan Act in criticizing unauthorized diplomatic efforts by Jesse Jackson, who had traveled to Cuba as a private citizen to negotiate a release of prisoners with Fidel Castro.

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Nancy Pelosi -

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi infuriated the White House when she traveled to Syria in 2007 to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. President George W. Bush said Pelosi's visit sent "mixed signals" that harmed his administration's efforts to isolate Assad's regime over its alleged support for terrorism and accusations of meddling in Iraq and Lebanon.

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John Kerry -

In 2018 during Donald Trump's presidency, former Secretary of State John Kerry engaged in shadow diplomacy when he met and corresponded with then-Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in order to ensure the Iran nuclear deal framework remained more or less intact. The Boston Globe was the first to report on Kerry's meeting with Iranian officials, which took place at the United Nations in New York.

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Obama administration -

Logan Act objections were raised again in 2015, this time in response to a letter addressed to the government of Iran by a group of Republican senators regarding the Obama administration's nuclear deal with Iran.

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Previous accusations against Trump -

And as early as 2016 when the then-Republican presidential candidate was on the campaign trail, Donald Trump was accused by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack of violating the Logan Act by encouraging Russian actors to hack Hillary Clinton's email account.

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Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu -

In July 2024, the former US president was criticized by social media users for sharing a letter from Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas before he was due to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

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Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy -

Newsweek also reported on the claim that on July 19, 2024, Trump revealed that he had spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the phone shortly after accepting the Republican 2024 presidential nomination, and that they discussed the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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Mar-a-Lago meeting point -

Trump was also accused of violating the Logan Act after twice hosting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at his Mar-a-Lago home. The meeting was described by Orbán as a "peace mission" amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

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What happened to George Logan? -

And what of George Logan, the man whose name is inexorably associated with this old but rarely-invoked federal statute?

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Election to the US Senate -

In 1800, the year Thomas Jefferson (pictured) was elected president, George Logan was elected to the US Senate for a six-year term, representing Pennsylvania.

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'Memoir of Dr. George Logan of Stenton' -

George Logan died in 1821. His widow, Deborah Logan, wrote an account of his life and times, 'Memoir of Dr. George Logan of Stenton,' which was published many years later, in 1899. 

Sources: (The Federalist Society) (CNN) (Newsweek) (The Boston Globe) (The Washington Post) (MSNBC) (Britannica) (USS Constitution Museum)

See also: The most influential political books ever published

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