John Kerry secret meetings with Iran to salvage nuke deal – shadow diplomacy or undermining Trump foreign policy?
The Obama admin just can’t help itself and seeks to undermine Trump at every turn
Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed intelligence gathered by the Mossad that conclusively reveals that the Iran Nuclear Deal was induced by fraud.
We are now learning that former Secretary of State John Kerry has been meeting secretly with foreign governments in an effort to salvage what Netanyahu has long-insisted is a bad deal. Kerry’s goal, apparently, is to encourage world leaders to pressure President Trump into keeping the Iran deal in place.
John Kerry’s bid to save one of his most significant accomplishments as secretary of state took him to New York on a Sunday afternoon two weeks ago, where, more than a year after he left office, he engaged in some unusual shadow diplomacy with a top-ranking Iranian official.
He sat down at the United Nations with Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to discuss ways of preserving the pact limiting Iran’s nuclear weapons program. It was the second time in about two months that the two had met to strategize over salvaging a deal they spent years negotiating during the Obama administration, according to a person briefed on the meetings.
With the Iran deal facing its gravest threat since it was signed in 2015, Kerry has been on an aggressive yet stealthy mission to preserve it, using his deep lists of contacts gleaned during his time as the top US diplomat to try to apply pressure on the Trump administration from the outside. President Trump, who has consistently criticized the pact and campaigned in 2016 on scuttling it, faces a May 12 deadline to decide whether to continue abiding by its terms.
Kerry also met last month with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and he’s been on the phone with top European Union official Federica Mogherini, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal the private meetings. Kerry has also met with French President Emmanuel Macron in both Paris and New York, conversing over the details of sanctions and regional nuclear threats in both French and English.
While it’s not uncommon for former Secretaries of State to remain in contact with foreign leaders, it is unusual for one to do so with such a specific agenda. It’s hard to imagine what kind of bargaining position Kerry, now a private citizen, has or why our foreign allies would even agree to meet with him about such a specific and contentious issue—and at the risk of riling the current American president.
The Globe continues:
“It is unusual for a former secretary of state to engage in foreign policy like this, as an actual diplomat and quasi-negotiator,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a foreign policy expert at the Brookings Institution. “Of course, former secretaries of state often remain quite engaged with foreign leaders, as they should, but it’s rarely so issue-specific, especially when they have just left office.”
Needless to say this move has created quite the furor.
“I believe that John Kerry should be prosecuted for failing to register as a foreign agent” –@michellemalkin slams Kerry for reportedly trying to secretly salvage Iran deal pic.twitter.com/E4RL0hT1tx
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) May 5, 2018
Representative Devin Nunes (R-CA) had a little fun with the Kerry report, tweeting:
OMG! Logan Act violations!! Send in the G Men… https://t.co/FA1dydJGQb
— Devin Nunes (@DevinNunes) May 4, 2018
He was, of course, lampooning the repeated attempts of the left to “get” Trump with the Logan Act . . . up to and including “former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, who was concerned that former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn had violated the Logan Act during the presidential transition period after he discussed policy issues with a Russian envoy.”
Have often argued that 1799 Logan Act, used as pretext to question Michael Flynn, is dead. So IMHO it's dead for John Kerry, too. But if you believe Logan Act was used legitimately against Flynn, you've got to want a DOJ/FBI Kerry investigation…
— Byron York (@ByronYork) May 5, 2018
This, of course, works both ways.
The Washington Examiner reports:
Former Secretary of State John Kerry would be violating the Logan Act, if it was enforced, for secretly speaking with foreign leaders about salvaging the Iran nuclear deal during Trump’s presidency, Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz argued Saturday.
No one has ever been prosecuted under the Logan Act, a more than 200-year-old law that prohibits private citizens from acting on behalf of the U.S. in negotiations with foreign governments without authorization.
“Fortunately for everybody, the Logan Act [is a] dead letter but if it were in existence, my friend John Kerry would be violating the Logan Act,” Dershowitz told “Fox & Friends.”
“He is negotiating, though he is not in the administration, and there are real problems with doing that,” he continued.
. . . . “John is a friend of mine. I’ve known him for a long, long time. But remember how this investigation against Trump begins,” Dershowitz said. “It begins by the theory that people in the Trump campaign may be violating the Logan Act, by going and speaking to people when they haven’t yet been president.”
The Obama administration just can’t help itself and seeks to undermine Trump at every turn.
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Comments
John Kerry has always been a traitor. Lock him up.
And that sir is Treason!
(What Kerry is doing is Treason!)
Anyone have any more about this?
“……new requirement for their doctors to stop reporting the numbers of children dying of starvation or of insufficient care in their government-run hospitals.
“Looks like it ain’t real socialism over there, though — as they haven’t managed to kill enough people quite yet.”
Comment by ….at Ace of Spades — May 5, 2018
“Large Numbers of Venezuelans Fleeing to Brazil (Real Socialism!)” WARNING: some mature language.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIi6yeo_YgI&feature=youtu.be
FYI
“The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 51% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance.”
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/trump_administration/prez_track_may04
And a Muppet lookalike.
Don’t count on Sessios to do anything about this. Don’t count on Sessions to do antyhing about antyhing the Swamp or any traitor to this country does against us.
WHEN will Trump finally fire “AG” Sessions??
“This, of course, works both ways.”
No, not for Democrats.
In any case, if JFKerry here manages to convince the Iranians to give up their nuclear ambitions and become peaceful neighbors to the rest of the Muddle East, more power to him. Heck, I’d be in favor of a Nobel prize, and I’ll bet every single conservative would praise his name.
Of course, the probability for this ranks right up there with Generalissimo Francisco Franco returning from the grave to rule Spain as a liberal democrat.
And whenever Iran *does* manage to get a nuclear weapon and use it against another country, the Dems will be right there, blaming the Republicans from the radioactive ruins.
LOL Thanks for the laugh Georgfelis.
I think you are sincere in your wish, but I have all doubts about a washed-up Ne’er-do-well, Elitist, “Rich Boy” in his 8th decade of life who can’t even stay on a bike.
Trump said he negotiates as well as he bicycles. More to come like this.
Kerry broke his leg in a race.
John Kerry’s existence is the only reason there is any debate over whether James Comey is the biggest weasel in the US or whether he’s only #2.
Hey! You try harder when you’re number 2.
This is a pretty transparently a set of stupidities.
Kerry is stupid (!) for putting himself in a position like this.
ANYONE who met with him is stupid for meeting with someone without ANY authority to do ANY THING. What a waste of time!
You’re assuming he was purporting to negotiate for the US, in which case yes, it would be silly of Iran to play along. But how likely is that? Surely what he was doing was helping the Iranians try to figure out how to save the deal, setting up support from the other parties, basically doing exactly what the Logan Act forbids, i.e. frustrating the measures of the United States. Just as he did in Paris.
Hoping that Mossad fits him with concrete shoes and drops him in a vat of his own ketchup.
His wife’s ketchup, you mean.
Okay Kaf, you beat me to it. Great minds must run in the same gutter.
It’s no more her ketchup than his. She got rich the same way he did — by marrying a Heinz.
(Oh, and btw she actually has no shares in the company, hasn’t for years. Even when she did have a stake in the company it was only about 4%. So the people who were boycotting it were just making fools of themselves)
You mean his wife’s ketchup. Kerry’s claim to fame is…umm, uh, I’ll think of it, uh. Oh yah, marrying a rich woman. (Getting rich the really old fashioned way.)
You’re not being fair to Mr. Kerry at all! Remember, before marrying that rich woman, he had been married to another rich woman. He might actually be one of the most successful gigolos in modern America.
Give credit where it’s due, will you?
He is probably just trying to sell Iran their new MAYOCHUP product from Heinz.
So, when will he be required to register as an agent of the Iranian government?? I know, never, because he’s a Democrat.
This isn’t the first stint where Kerry had not been a part of an administration and yet weaseled his way into negotiations. He did it in the Vietnam War as well.
His being “Swift Boated” might show he is actually as stupid as he seems. Maybe the long schlong and his being fairly stupid appealed to these rich women. Kerry has always been questionable. The Trump Administration needs to bring heat on him for this, it would probably be the first time he has ever been questioned for his behavior that looks to sidestep the President for his own purposes.
It seems like the Logan act was made for someone exactly like him.
TOUCHE!
Obviously, we need a special counsel to investigate Kerry because he conspired with a foreign government to undermine the results of an election.
Ha!
The Logan Act is only applicable to those that must be resisted.
It would be ironically humorous if Kerry, a former persecutor himself, were the first citizen convicted under the Act.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/953
Kerry and his type actually believe the leaders of Iran will change their view of us for the better. No wonder why they fail so much with their policies.
I would love for Trump to laugh in Kerry’s face. “You have no power here!”
OK, just to clarify the situation.
1) the Logan Act is a Federal statute with a criminal penalty.
2) as such it can and will never be applied to the acts of a Democrat or any of their allies on the Left. They have immunity under the “Connected Persons Clause” of the Unwritten But Real Constitution.
3) no GOPe member will ever do anything to bring Democrat or their allies on the Left to face the courts under any Federal criminal statute.
4) the Democrats may apply any Federal law, real or imagined, against any Deplorable or any GOPe member if application to the GOPe member is to the benefit of or amuses any Democrat.
It is what it is, until events take place to make it so that it isn’t.
Trivia: Did you know that John Kerry is a Viet Nam vet?
He was a member of the Viet Cong, right? His actions sure fit the bill.
No, Mr Hawkins, I did not know that. Imagine.
I have concluded that John F’n Kerry is a dumbshit who does not understand authority, or when he hasn’t got it.
Prosecute him. If the Logan Act is unconstitutional, as pretty much everyone believes it to be, let a court finally strike it down, then drop the case against Flynn. (It doesn’t matter if he’s already pleaded guilty; the New Black Panthers had already been convicted when Holder dropped the case against them.)
Iran called Kerry, someone literally wants it to fail.
Is there any difference between John Kerry meeting with the Iranians and his meeting with Madame Bihn, the communist negotiator in Paris?
“Michael Meehan, one of Kerry’s top spokespersons, finally admit(s) to the Boston Globe (in March, 2004) that Kerry did actually meet with Madame Binh, the top Viet Cong negotiator to the Paris Peace talks. Even today, we do not know how Kerry arranged the meeting, where it was held, how long it lasted, or what precisely Kerry and Madame Binh discussed. These details remain hidden.” -Jerome Corsi
Thus, we can say without any contradiction that John Kerry, while an active duty officer in the United States Navy, secretly met with the top North Vietnamese negotiator.
There is no difference between the two meetings and their will be no difference in results: No criminal charges, no investigation of any violation of the Logan Act.
Congress needs to revoke the Logan Act or the AG needs to prosecute Kerry.
He was not active duty.
He was a reserve officer in the US Navy at the time he met with Bihn and the rest of the North Vietnamese negotiation team. This is most likely the reason why he was initially given a dishonorable discharge from the navy which was reversed by the general amnesty grant made by Carter.
Is Kerry meeting with officials in an attempt to cover up/destroy evidence of the misdeed?
My bad. He was a commissioned officer in the Naval Reserves.
Thanks for picking my nit.