It’s called the Logan Act. There are actually laws about how civilians can interact with foreign officials. Dennis Rodman famously violated those laws when he went to North Korea to act in an official capacity that wasn’t officially sanctioned. Trump is a civilian until inauguration, so his meetings with heads of state to discuss official matters (not just shooting the shit about movies and new restaurants) would have had to be sanctioned to be legal.
Just like it says: Rodman went in an official capacity but wasn’t given the authority. He did it on his own. It wasn’t officially sanctioned so he either lied or was just oblivious.
Sounds like grey area to me, couldn’t he just have met them as ‘friends’ or did he seriously identify himself as US president before he was inaugurated? Or is the law that strict?
He claimed to negotiate and just generally be there in the name of the US. Who cares about a president? We have lots of people that operate in an official capacity to other countries that aren’t remotely close to the president. You simply cannot state you are operating with US authority in foreign relations unless you are specifically authorized.
That makes sense. It sounds hard to prove though, it’d have to be on record that he (Trump) was suggesting he was meeting those people on behalf of the US instead of just as a friendly visit
There are settled court cases that should cover this kind of situation. I’m sure there are witnesses and a paper trail. The problem is whether there’s any interest in actually pursuing a conviction.
What’s illegal about it?
It’s called the Logan Act. There are actually laws about how civilians can interact with foreign officials. Dennis Rodman famously violated those laws when he went to North Korea to act in an official capacity that wasn’t officially sanctioned. Trump is a civilian until inauguration, so his meetings with heads of state to discuss official matters (not just shooting the shit about movies and new restaurants) would have had to be sanctioned to be legal.
Can you explain what that means? Because he either was or wasn’t.
Just like it says: Rodman went in an official capacity but wasn’t given the authority. He did it on his own. It wasn’t officially sanctioned so he either lied or was just oblivious.
Sounds like grey area to me, couldn’t he just have met them as ‘friends’ or did he seriously identify himself as US president before he was inaugurated? Or is the law that strict?
He claimed to negotiate and just generally be there in the name of the US. Who cares about a president? We have lots of people that operate in an official capacity to other countries that aren’t remotely close to the president. You simply cannot state you are operating with US authority in foreign relations unless you are specifically authorized.
That makes sense. It sounds hard to prove though, it’d have to be on record that he (Trump) was suggesting he was meeting those people on behalf of the US instead of just as a friendly visit
There are settled court cases that should cover this kind of situation. I’m sure there are witnesses and a paper trail. The problem is whether there’s any interest in actually pursuing a conviction.
Well, the meeting…
So the meeting is illegal because it’s a meeting. Gotcha
You asked what’s illegal, not why it’s illegal.
If you’re a Trump supporter, nothing is ever illegal if he does it.