President Trump slammed John Kerry in a Thursday night tweet, accusing him of undercutting the administration.
“John Kerry had illegal meetings with the very hostile Iranian Regime, which can only serve to undercut our great work to the detriment of the American people,” Trump tweeted. “He told them to wait out the Trump Administration! Was he registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act? BAD!”
[Opinion: John Kerry deserves jail for secret Iran diplomacy]
John Kerry had illegal meetings with the very hostile Iranian Regime, which can only serve to undercut our great work to the detriment of the American people. He told them to wait out the Trump Administration! Was he registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act? BAD!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 14, 2018
Kerry has said he met “three or four times” with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to discuss the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which he helped broker as secretary of state in the Obama administration. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal, originally signed by seven countries and the European Union, in May and imposed sanctions on Iran.
Trump’s criticism came after Manisha Singh, the assistant secretary of state for economic affairs, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee earlier Thursday that what some have called Kerry’s shadow diplomacy was “extremely inappropriate.”
Generally, people who represent the interests of foreign governments, such as acting as lobbyists or political consultants, must register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, is reportedly near a plea deal on his charges of failing to register as a foreign agent for his work with Ukraine, charges that stem from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the election.
