http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...orted-shadow-diplomacy-to-save-iran-deal.html Former Secretary of State John Kerry is under fire over a report claiming that he has been engaged in “shadow diplomacy” with officials from Iran and Europe as part of a final attempt to save the seemingly doomed 2015 Iran nuclear deal. The Boston Globe reported Friday that Kerry sat down twice with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in recent months to strategize in a bid to save the deal, as part of what the Globe described as “an aggressive yet stealthy” mission to put pressure on the Trump administration to keep the deal in some form. Trump faces a May 12 deadline to review the deal, and Kerry has been ramping up his meetings ahead of that deadline. He reportedly met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier -- who was foreign minister of Germany when the deal was negotiated. He has also met with French President Emmanuel Macron twice and spoken by phone with European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini. The Globe reported that Kerry was quiet in his campaign as he believes that a high-profile defense of the deal by prominent Democrats would only make Trump more likely to pull the U.S. out of the deal. Kerry’s reported actions immediately sparked criticism and raised claims that such dealings with Iranian and European officials could violate the Logan Act -- which prohibits private citizens from negotiating on behalf of the U.S. government without authorization While no one has ever been successfully prosecuted under the law, the Logan Act was raised last year over former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s negotiations at the United Nations over a resolution with Israel during the Trump transition. “John Kerry helped craft a flaccid deal that granted the terror regime in Tehran vast monetary and geopolitical concessions, even as it put them on the glide path to nuclear weapons by its own terms,” Sohrab Ahmari, senior writer at Commentary magazine, told Fox News. “The biggest public service he can render now is to go away.” Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said Kerry’s move “certainly raises Logan Act questions.” He pointed to an alleged double standard, suggesting there would be a bigger outcry if Bush-era Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had done the same during the Obama administration. There was a significant outcry from Democrats and the Obama administration in 2015 when Republicans -- led by Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton -- wrote to Iranian leadership explaining the difference between an executive agreement and a treaty. The letter suggested that any deal without a congressional vote could be modified by a future Congress or revoked with “the stroke of a pen” by whoever replaces President Obama. At that time, Kerry slammed Cotton's move as an “unconstitutional, un-thought-out action by somebody who has been in the United States Senate for 60-something days." According to The Globe, Kerry has also been trying to get Congress on his side by placing dozens of phone calls, including to House Speaker Paul Ryan. Kerry is reported to have coordinated his push with a group of former top State Department advisers who helped negotiate the Iran deal -- named Diplomacy Works. The group has reportedly chosen to focus on Europeans, Israelis and non-partisan experts to try and salvage the deal. Diplomacy Works did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News. Trump has been critical not only of the Iran deal but also Kerry’s role in negotiating the deal in particular. He has repeatedly called him the “worst negotiator I’ve ever seen.” On Friday, Trump mocked Kerry at the National Rifle Association’s annual conference in Dallas, Texas, describing him as “not the best negotiator we’ve ever seen” and mocking Kerry for breaking his leg during 2015 negotiations. “He never walked away from the table, except to be in that bicycle race where he fell and broke his leg,” he said to cheers from the crowd. “That was the only time.”
Well, which is it? Was he an unregistered foreign agent, or was he negotiating on behalf of the US government? Or are you just flinging poo at the wall in hopes something will stick? barfo
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018...-to-undermine-trump-and-feed-his-own-ego.html When does a gross indiscretion, aimed at undermining President Trump through private negotiations with a sworn enemy of America, become something bigger? Former Secretary of State John Kerry, deep into his months-long “shadow diplomacy” with Iran, is testing the point. Truth is, the antiquated Logan Act – which bars exactly that sort of extra-legal, unofficial and patently officious and offensive behavior – has never been enforced, although referenced as late as 1991 by the Supreme Court. That does not make Kerry’s behavior acceptable, patriotic or defensible. In fact, at a time when everyone from President Trump to America’s national security team are working overtime to warn Iran against counting on that faux nuclear deal, Kerry’s actions – not for the first time – are quite unforgivable. Irony on irony, Kerry’s “stealthy” anti-Trump diplomacy comes on the heels of the Democratic Party’s aggressive 2017 attempts to call a single conversation between incoming Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and the Russian Ambassador a Logan Act violation. One could even argue that, in a cascade of politically-motivated Logan Act attacks, illegal unmasking of Flynn by the Obama White House (for which no one was held accountable), FBI interviews that left interviewers divided on Flynn’s intent, and Flynn’s own bad judgement, Mr. Mueller got his biggest one-count guilty plea. Assuming Mr. Kerry is not authorized to embolden the Iranians and Europeans with false hope, then he is in express violation of the Logan Act. Unlike the Flynn case, there is little ambiguity here. The violation is textbook. Somehow, what John Kerry is now doing – trying to create a parallel understanding with a hostile foreign nation – is far more serious than anything Mike Flynn did in the days before becoming National Security Advisor to Trump. This is a brazen attempt to privately negotiate – and assist a foreign government in confounding – U.S. foreign policy and national security. Whatever the reader thinks of this president, deliberately undermining a sitting president in this way is inexcusable. Think about it for a moment. What we are now witnessing is a second former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential nominee openly aiming to reverse the results of the 2016 presidential election. Hillary Clinton paid for opposition research that was funneled through partisan FBI leadership to a blind-sided FISA court permitting the government to spy on a member of the Trump campaign – eventually triggering the Comey leaks and the appointment of a special counsel. Kerry is negotiating foreign policy. The audacity of this bitter, anti-President Trump crowd is just breathtaking. One wonders when they will simply show up at the White House and just ask for the Oval back. By rights, they think it is theirs. As Fox News reported, Kerry is actively engaged in “shadow diplomacy” in an attempt to preserve the Iran nuclear deal, to which he feels attached. Specifically, “Kerry sat down twice with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in recent months to strategize in a bid to save the deal, as part of what the Globe described as ‘an aggressive yet stealthy’ mission to put pressure on the Trump administration …” Now, with President Trump facing a May 12 deadline to review the Iran deal, “Kerry has been ramping up his meetings ahead of that deadline,” and “reportedly met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier -- who was foreign minister of Germany when the deal was negotiated,” as well as “French President Emmanuel Macron twice” and by “phone with European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini.” Here’s what the Logan Act says: “Any citizen of the United States 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.” Assuming Mr. Kerry is not authorized to embolden the Iranians and Europeans with false hope, pushing the string our president is trying to pull, then he is in express violation of the act. Unlike the Flynn case, there is little ambiguity here. The violation is textbook. Does that mean anything will happen? No. For his own purposes and to preserve his own unelected, unappointed, and unauthorized political agenda, Mr. Kerry will probably continue chasing the Nobel Prize he never got, so badly wanted and still feels he deserves – all for that horrific Iran deal. After all, Mr. Kerry handed over $1.7 billion to Iran, in American cash. He must feel he is owed something. That same $1.7 billion, if applied to American needs, would have bought a big chunk of a southern border wall, wider veterans’ benefits, one year of federal low income energy assistance, two-thirds of all federal job training, or all standardized testing for American kids for a year. But never mind. John Kerry needed his prize, and he still wants it. President Trump’s Justice Department, consumed in responding to a mess created by Mr. Obama’s other Secretary of State, will likely let the Logan Act violation go. And maybe that is the right thing. We can only call out so many bad acts and bad actors. And the Logan Act may be – as Professor Alan Dershowitz suggests – unconstitutionally vague. Still, this does not make Mr. Kerry blameless. Any more than he is blameless for having set this terrible Iran deal in motion, with his predecessor and with President Obama, in the first place. What his insolence, arrogance and indefensible continuation of private “shadow diplomacy” points to is this: The Democrats will not accept the outcome of the American electoral process, and for the first time in American history are actively – perhaps illegally – seeking to undermine it. Robert Charles is a former assistant secretary of state for President George W. Bush, former naval intelligence officer and litigator. He served in the Reagan and Bush 41 White Houses.
John Kerry is such a sorry piece of shit: John Kerry Admits to Undermining President, Conducting Rogue Diplomacy With Iran By Rusty | Featured Contributor | September 12, 2018 3:58PM Former Secretary of State John Kerry admitted in an interview early Wednesday to conducting rogue diplomacy with a top Iranian official, unauthorized by the government. Conducting diplomacy with a foreign nation in defiance of what the President has deemed in the best interests of the American people is borderline treason by nearly every measuring stick. It is most certainly, at the very least, a blatant violation of the Logan Act. John Kerry admits to multiple meetings with Javad Zarif, the smooth front-man for the Iranian dictatorship, to help the regime defy U.S. government policy. In other circumstances you might call it “collusion”. Why, it might even violate the Logan Act. https://t.co/8yj5LG5UAs — Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) September 12, 2018 “I met with him at a conference in Norway,” Kerry said, speaking about Zarif. “I think I saw him in a conference in Munich at the World Economic Forum. So I’ve probably seen him three or four times.” “They (Iran) say they’re prepared to negotiate and to resolve these issues,” he said. “But the administration’s taken a very different tack… “I don’t know as I talk to you today if there’s been any dialogue or sit down.” The question remains … Why the hell is that Kerry’s concern right now? He has absolutely no official government role involving foreign relations. The only reason he would possibly take such actions is to undermine the President. BREAKING: Kerry Meeting With Iran to Salvage Nuke Deal With Rogue Diplomacy — Criticizes Trump in closed-door powwows with top Iranian offl https://t.co/I9rxoJRZ5z — Adam Kredo (@Kredo0) September 12, 2018 The Logan Act states that: “Any citizen of the United States … who, without authority of the United States … 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 … shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.” Seems pretty clear-cut here. Kerry’s admission coincides with previous reports that he had been holding then-secret meetings with Zarif. Can you imagine if somebody like Condoleeza Rice or George Bush had tried to undermine negotiations with Iraqi or Afghani officials while Barack Obama was President? “From my point of view,” Kerry explained Wednesday, “I think President Trump would have been much better advised to have kept the (Iran nuclear deal).” Kerry has attacked President Trump for pulling back on the flawed nuclear deal that was supposed to cement Obama’s legacy as a peace negotiator. Trump’s actions were “dragging the world back to the brink,” he claimed. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders nuked that claim saying: “I think based on each of those individuals’ lack of success in this entire process on foreign affairs, they would probably be the last three people that we would look to for advice and counsel, and whether or not we had made the right decisions.” Kerry didn’t get the hint, continuing to offer advice and counsel to a foreign adversary. If anyone were looking for real, tangible ‘collusion,’ they just found it. https://thepoliticalinsider.com/john-kerry-iran-nuclear-deal-secret/
Well, it's been 4 months. Why isn't Kerry behind bars? It's almost like nobody pays any attention to what Devin Nunes wants. barfo
Who knew the Secretary of State was actually a foreign agent. Senator McCain must be turning over in his grave since he considered inviting Kerry to be his Vice Presidential nominee.
