Politics

The Left’s Political Bloodthirst Becomes Legal Perversion

Fortunately for President Trump, political gimmicks only go so far, especially when you’re in the minority party.

By  
on
Michael Flynn (by the Defense Department via Wikimedia)

Michael Flynn (by the Defense Department via Wikimedia)

The left has turned political bloodthirst into legal perversion. In their effort to drown the Trump presidency, they are inflating laws they find politically advantageous while ignoring others altogether.

Consider the recent resignation of National Security Advisor Michael Flynn after news emerged that he had discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador before President Donald Trump was inaugurated. Liberals are going berserk over the fact that Flynn may or may not have violated the Logan Act in his discussion – a more than two-century-old statute under which no one has ever been prosecuted.

By contrast, these same liberals ignore the very serious felony acts of “[n]ine current and former officials, who were in senior positions at multiple agencies,” and shared highly classified information with the media regarding the internal Flynn matter.

From a legal standpoint, if the Washington Post’s reporting based on leaks by nine officials is true, we are nearly certain that they violated 18 U.S.C. § 798, while we are very far from certain that Flynn violated the Logan Act, since we have not seen a transcript of his conversation with the Russian ambassador. And yet the left obsesses over the latter at the expense of the former.

18 U.S.C. § 798, a criminal statute regarding disclosure of classified information, reads:

Whoever knowingly and willfully communicates… any classified information… concerning the communication intelligence activities of the United States or any foreign government; or… obtained by the processes of communication intelligence from the communications of any foreign government… Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

Sponsored

We know that nine former or current officials “communicate[d]… classified information… obtained [from] communication intelligence” since the leaked information about Flynn discussing sanctions with the Russian ambassador was reportedly discovered during routine monitoring of Russian communications. As Glenn Greenwald points out, leaking of SIGINT – highly classified signals intelligence – is a grave felony.

Nevertheless, liberals care – not about 18 U.S.C. § 798 – but the Logan Act, which bars private citizens from communicating with foreign governments “with intent to influence” that government “in relation to any disputes or controversies with the Untied States… .” Not only has this statute never been used to prosecute an individual, it has, in fact, been repeatedly utilized as a political tool to demonize the opponent, which could very well be the case now.

There are real questions surrounding the speculation that Flynn violated the Logan Act. According to the New York Times, “[C]urrent and former administration officials familiar with the call said the transcript [of Flynn’s call with the Russian ambassador] was ambiguous enough that Mr. Trump could have justified either firing or retaining Mr. Flynn.”

Given that the public has not seen the transcript, the conversation could have been as innocuous as the Russian ambassador mentioning the new Obama-issued sanctions and Flynn merely replying “we’ll look at that in a few weeks post-inauguration.” Such a dialogue would not run afoul of the Logan Act if Flynn had no “intent to influence” the Russian government, especially if his reply to the Russian ambassador was intended to stop the line of communication regarding sanctions.

But even if we are to assume the most sinister of conversations and intentions on the part of Michael Flynn – as is often the left’s assumption with any Trump affiliate – when have liberals ever cared about Logan Act violations?

Sponsored

Where was the left when Senator Ted Kennedy offered to work with Soviet officials in an effort to damn President Ronald Reagan’s reelection – an egregious violation of the Logan Act and U.S. policy? Liberal criticism was noticeably absent because that violation of federal statute assisted their political ends.

The apoplectic outrage over Flynn’s alleged Logan Act violation compared with the questionable silence over officials leaking highly classified information suggests that this is more of a political game than a pursuit of justice.

Since Democrats have lost electoral power, they are using every tool at their disposal to delegitimize Trump: Russian hacking, the Ninth Circuit, leaked intelligence, and two-century-old statutes. Fortunately for President Trump, political gimmicks only go so far, especially when you’re in the minority party.

Earlier: Screw The Logan Act, Have We Forgotten That Official LYING is Illegal?

kayleigh-mcenany-2017Kayleigh McEnany is a CNN political commentator. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and she also studied politics at Oxford University. In addition to writing a column for Above the Law, she is a contributor for The Hill. She can be found on Twitter at @KayleighMcEnany.

Topics

, , , , , ,