Donald Trump’s comment that he met with Vladimir Putin after leaving the White House has prompted social media users to accuse him of violating the Logan Act which prohibits private citizens from negotiating with foreign governments.
The former president was previously accused of contravening the legislation enacted in 1798 and named after George Logan who held unauthorized negotiations with the revolutionary French government over merchant shipping rights.
In July, social media users criticized Trump for sharing a letter from Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas before the Republican nominee was due to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
Trump was also criticized that month for revealing he spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the phone shortly after accepting the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination, and that they discussed Putin’s full-scale invasion.
Former President Donald Trump in the spin room after he debated Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, at The National Constitution Center on September 10, 2024, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The latest allegations center around a clip from Tuesday’s presidential debate widely shared on social media that showed Trump answering a question about his repeated claim that he can solve the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours and whether he wants Ukraine to win.
“I want to get the war settled,” Trump said. “I know Zelensky very well, and I know Putin very well.”
“That is a war that’s dying to be settled. I will get it settled before I even become president, if I win, when I’m president-elect, and what I’ll do is I’ll speak to one. I’ll speak to the other. I’ll get them together,” Trump said during the heated debate in Philadelphia.
“That war would have never happened and, in fact, when I saw Putin after I left—unfortunately left—because our country has gone to hell. But after I left, when I saw him building up soldiers, he did it after I left, I said, ‘Oh, he must be negotiating. It must be a good, strong point of negotiation.
“Well, he wasn’t because Biden had no idea how to talk to him. He had no idea how to stop it,” he said.
It is not clear whether Trump misspoke about meeting Putin after leaving the White House and Newsweek has contacted his team and the Kremlin for comment.
But the remarks prompted a strong reaction among X (formerly Twitter) users who said the former president had violated a criminal statute.
“Saying ‘if I’m president-elect, I’ll get it done (peace in Israel) before I’m even inaugurated’ is a confession to a federal crime under the Logan Act,” wrote Joyce Vance, a former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama.
Saying “if I’m president elect I’ll get it done (peace in Israel) before I’m even inaugurated” is a confession to a federal crime under the Logan Act.
— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) September 11, 2024
“Oh no you just admitted on National TV to violating the Logan Act,” wrote X user Intelschizo next to a clip of Trump’s comments. “Logan act, anyone?” wrote Stephanie Manack. “Trump admitting that he broke the Logan Act! I saw Putin after I left! So he met with Putin!” wrote another user.
Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on continued U.S. assistance for Kyiv to fight the invasion by Vladimir Putin, whose ties with the Republican were scrutinized when he was in the White House.
Harris responded by defending the Biden administration’s Ukraine policy and said that Trump’s claims of being able to swiftly end the war were because “he would just give it up and that is not who we are as Americans.”
A flash CNN poll after the clash of the candidates found that 63 percent of voters believed Harris had won the overall debate. William Kedjanyi, political betting analyst at Star Sports, said this put Harris in the driver’s seat in the presidential race, especially following the endorsement of music star Taylor Swift.
“We have brought the Vice President into 10/11 to go on and clinch the November vote,” he said in an emailed statement to Newsweek. “The mood among Democrats would have been further boosted by Taylor Swift’s endorsement.” Regarding Trump, “We now make him 11/10, to fight back and earn a return to the White House,” he added.
Harris’ chances of winning in November have also improved with 20 leading bookmakers.
