Update:
Putin shot down Trump’s brag -read article.
Excerpt:
Donald Trump apparently forgot to check with Russia before making his latest campaign boast.
The former president caused outrage on Thursday when he claimedthat if he is elected, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, currently being held in Russian jail on dubious spying charges, would be “released immediately,” before he is even sworn in for his term. “He will be HOME, SAFE, AND WITH HIS FAMILY. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, will do that for me, but not for anyone else, and WE WILL BE PAYING NOTHING!” said Trump.
According to The Guardian, however, “when asked about the remarks, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said, ‘There aren’t any contacts with Donald Trump. Regarding [US-Russian] contacts on the matter of incarcerated and convicted individuals, we can say that these contacts must be carried out in total secrecy. This is the only way they can be effective.’”
This is what the Logan Act says:
The Logan Act (1 Stat. 613, 18 U.S.C. § 953, enacted January 30, 1799) is a United States federal law that criminalizes negotiation by unauthorized American citizens with foreign governments having a dispute with the United States. The intent behind the Act is to prevent unauthorized negotiations from undermining the government’s position. (Wikipedia)
Wiki explains:
The Act was passed following George Logan‘s unauthorized negotiations with France in 1798, and was signed into law by President John Adams on January 30, 1799.
Although nobody has ever been charged with violating it this is the penalty:
The Act was amended in 1994, changing the penalty for violation from “fined $5,000” to “fined under this title”; this appears to be the only amendment to the Act.[2] Violation of the Logan Act is a felony, punishable with imprisonment for up to three years.
I added the photo of Trump.
The artilce begins:
Donald Trump prompted furious backlash by claiming that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich would “be released almost immediately” by Russia if he won the November election.
The journalist was arrested in March 2023 on spying charges and has spent more than a year in a Moscow prison without a trial date scheduled, and the former president suggested that Russian president Vladimir Putin would release Gershkovich as a personal favor to him if he wins re-election.
This is the post on X which uses the term “infinite stupidity” with a reply which rfers to the Logan Act:
The line between free speech and speech that violates the Logan act has never (to my knowledge) been legally drawn. This is doubtless because Trump is the first presidential candidate to send a message to a foreign power (which has in a previous election made an effort to assist his winning campaign) having a dispute with a foreign power which the United States is having a dispute with telling them what he will do if he’s elected.
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