Conservative radio show host Mark Levin wondered if Sen. Chris Murphy violated the Logan Act by meeting with Iran’s foreign minister.
“Did leftwing Trump-hating senator, Chris Murphy, violate the Logan Act by meeting secretly with Iran’s foreign minister? Did he interfere with American foreign policy?” Levin said in a Tuesday morning tweet.
1. Did leftwing Trump-hating senator, Chris Murphy, violate the Logan Act by meeting secretly with Iran’s foreign minister? Did he interfere with American foreign policy?
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) February 18, 2020
The Logan Act is a federal law that prohibits unauthorized negotiations with foreign governments that are having a dispute with the United States.
Murphy confirmed Tuesday reports that he met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Munich during a security conference last week, noting that he had met with the minister during the Obama administration as well. A State Department official said the department was not aware of the meeting. The Connecticut Democrat claimed in a tweet that he did so because “it’s dangerous not to talk to adversaries, [especially] amidst a cycle of escalation.”
1/ Attached is my usual account of my latest trip abroad, this one to Ukraine and Munich.
I met w the Iranian Foriegn Minister in Munich. It’s dangerous not to talk to adversaries, esp amidst a cycle of escalation.
Quick thread on what I told Zarif.https://t.co/2oYjiXfZ7J
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) February 18, 2020
Levin followed up on his original tweet, asking: “Will there be a special counsel and ethics investigation? How about an expulsion proceeding? Are the media in a frenzy over this act of disloyalty? Inquiring minds want to know.”
2. Will there be a special counsel and ethics investigation? How about an expulsion proceeding? Are the media in a frenzy over this act of disloyalty? Inquiring minds want to know.https://t.co/RdLjHaNlJl
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) February 18, 2020
Murphy previously called for the Department of Justice to investigate former national security adviser Michael Flynn in 2017 for violating the Logan Act.
“Any effort to undermine our nation’s foreign policy, even during a transition period, may be illegal and must be taken seriously,” he said following leaks of a phone call Flynn had with a Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak.
The senator has been a staunch critic of the Trump administration, saying in January that Trump made the U.S. a “literal laughingstock” following the death of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.
“The damage has been done to the U.S. national security since the targeting of Qassem Soleimani. I don’t think the administration gamed out how badly this would go for us,” he told ABC News last month. “We are going to now have to engage in all sorts of repair work to try and keep our troops from being kicked out of Iraq, to try to repair our reputation with that government, to set to try to suspend or counter-ISIS operations.”
