Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio wants the Department of Justice to investigate John Kerry’s freelance diplomacy with Iran, Fox News reports. Rubio wants to know if Kerry violated the Logan Act or the Foreign Agents Registration Act when the former senator/ secretary of state met with top Iranian officials without the knowledge or consent of the state department.
Rubio says it is important for Americans to know because they “deserve to know that U.S. laws are enforced regardless of any individual’s past position.”
The Logan Act bans anyone not empowered by the U.S. government to negotiate with a foreign power over bilateral disagreements. The Foreign Agents Registration Act insists that people or corporations who pursue instructions issued by foreign governments reveal the nature of their liaison.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo charged that Kerry was “actively undermining” American foreign policy when the ex-secretary of state inflated his own talks with Iranian strongman Mohammad Javad Zarif.
“You can’t find precedent for this in U.S. history, and Secretary Kerry ought not to engage in that kind of behavior,” Pompeo said.
Kerry admitted to speaking to Zarif last May when the former senator was interviewed. In the same interview, Kerry said he was not trying to work with Iranians against the Trump administration but “rather tried to elicit from [Zarif] what Iran might be willing to do in order to change the dynamic in the Middle East for the better.”