John Kerry, Appearing on Fox, Shoots Down Trump Claim He Violated Logan Act: ‘Another Presidential Lie’
Former Secretary of State John Kerry told Fox News anchor Ed Henry on Thursday that President Donald Trump’s allegation he violated the Logan Act are yet another “presidential lie.”
Kerry is referencing Trump’s claim that Kerry violated the Logan Act by meeting with Iranian officials without approval from the current administration. Trump took aim at both Kerry and Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy on Thursday morning, writing in a tweet that they “grossly violated the Logan Act with respect to Iran.”
John Kerry and Senator Chris Murphy grossly violated the Logan Act with respect to Iran. If a Republican did what they did, there would be very serious ramifications!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2020
Trump’s allegations follow a meeting Murphy had with Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. The president had previously accused Kerry of violating The Logan Act in May 2019 for meeting with Zarif after the U.S. pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal.
Kerry, however, claimed he had not met with Iranians and instead had only seen Zarif at international security conferences.
The Logan Act prohibits unauthorized American citizens from negotiating with foreign governments and officers. Kerry told Fox that Trump’s accusations prove does not know anything about the law.
“I did what every senator and secretaries of state in history have done, which is continue to go to conferences abroad or have meetings in order to be well-informed. We engaged in no negotiation,” said Kerry in response to Henry’s question on Trump’s tweet.
Kerry then shifted attention to former New York mayor and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, pointing out that he’s “been out there engaged in very direct negotiations in an effort to try to do a subterfuge foreign policy.”
“So let’s get real here, which is something the president doesn’t like to do,” he said.
Watch above, via Fox News.
