Lauren Boebert Demands John Kerry ‘Be Investigated For Violations of the Logan Act Right Now’

The U.S. special envoy for climate change and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry is facing calls for his resignation from Republican lawmakers and pundits for reportedly discussing Israeli military operations with Iran’s foreign minister when he served as former President Obama’s secretary of state.

Kerry, however, has denied the allegations and called them “unequivocally false” in a tweet yesterday.

Nevertheless, U.S. House Rep Lauren Boebert (R-CO) tweeted out today that she believes Kerry “needs to be investigated for violations of the Logan Act right now.”

John Kerry needs to be investigated for violations of the Logan Act right now.

— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) April 27, 2021

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The Logan Act is a federal law that criminalizes negotiation by unauthorized American citizens with foreign governments having a dispute with the United States.

Democrats invoked in the early days of the Trump administration, accusing Gen. Michael Flynn of possibly violating it as well.

U.S. House Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) tweeted out about the situation yesterday and said, “If this is true, John Kerry is a traitor, not only to our great friend and ally Israel, but to America as well.”

If this is true, John Kerry is a traitor, not only to our great friend and ally Israel, but to America as well. https://t.co/E4jKh2pbZf

— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) April 26, 2021

From The Hill:

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) called for Kerry’s resignation in a floor speech, one of several senators to do so Monday. 

“I don’t do this lightly. In my entire time in the Senate, I’ve never called for anyone’s resignation,” Sullivan said. “But his record, John Kerry’s record, of undermining working families and working against American national security interests was too much to bear. He needs to go.”

“When I read this today, I was astonished as well that a former secretary of State, now a member of President Biden’s National Security Council … would reveal the secrets of one of our most important and enduring allies in the region to an avowed enemy,” he added. 

The New York Times and other outlets reported on Monday that leaked audio recorded in March captured Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif saying that Kerry told him Israel had attacked Iran’s interests in Syria at least 200 times. 

Zarif reportedly expressed astonishment at the revelation. Zarif did not say when Kerry, who served as secretary of State between 2013 and 2017, made the admission. 

State Department spokesperson Ned Price would not comment on the contents of the reportedly leaked audio but appeared to dismiss that the Iranian foreign minister’s astonishment was genuine. 

“I would just make the broad point that if you go back and look at press reporting from the time, this certainly was not secret, and governments that were involved were speaking to this publicly, on the record,” he said in response to a reporter’s question at a briefing on Monday.  

An Israeli official in 2018 confirmed that Israel had struck 200 Iranian targets in Syria, the first public admission of a covert campaign that was long suspected to be carried out by Israel. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, had raised alarm that Iran was exploiting the conflict to expand its own operations in the region and publicly stated, frequently, that Israel would act to prevent weapons transfers to Lebanese Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran. 

As early as 2013, Netanyahu emphasized that Israel’s policy would be to act to protect its own defense and self-interest, considered a thinly veiled admission of responsibility for a number of covert airstrikes that had occurred in Syria against Iranian-backed activity at the time. 

The revelations in the leaked audio come as the U.S. is participating in indirect discussions with Iran over ways for both sides to return to compliance with the 2015-Obama era nuclear deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. 

Israel is opposed to the U.S. reentering the deal, saying it does not prevent Iran from ever attaining a nuclear weapon and is a risk to Israel’s survival.

Republicans attacked Kerry as betraying Israel, America’s closest ally in the region. 

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said in a tweeted statement that Biden should remove Kerry from access to briefings on national security until the truth comes out as to whether Zarif’s reported statements are accurate.

“The allegations involving @JohnKerry are deeply disturbing. If true, he must resign,” Scott said.