Americans Seek Trial of Senators for ‘Treason’
WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- More than 165,000 people had signed a petition to the White House in less than two days urging charges be filed against 47 Republican senators who they say committed "treasonous" offenses by writing Iran about their plan to torpedo ongoing nuclear negotiations.
Lawmakers caused a political furor with their controversial letter Monday that warned an international nuclear deal with Iran could be scrapped by the next U.S. president, particularly if Congress does not give its seal of approval.
The White House has said it responds to such petitions when they reach the 100,000-signature threshold, providing President Barack Obama's administration with another opportunity to slam a letter that it considers inflammatory.
According to the petition, the 47 senators "committed a treasonous offense when they decided to violate the Logan Act, a 1799 law which forbids unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign governments".
Critics argue that the lawmakers, including at least three potential Republican 2016 presidential candidates, broke the law, or at least violated the traditions of Congress, by directly engaging a foreign power on U.S. foreign policy.
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden pilloried the letter, as did several Democratic congressional leaders. Iran's Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif called it "unprecedented and undiplomatic".
With no one indicted under the Logan Act since 1803, and zero successful prosecutions under that law, it is highly unlikely the 47 lawmakers -- who include top Senate Republican leaders -- are going to prison.
But the petition does help highlight the intensely divisive nature of the letter, which some in the Republican Party have acknowledged was not the ideal strategy for confronting Iran.
Negotiations with the Islamic Republic "are tough enough here and I didn't think it was appropriate to add another element that makes it more difficult", Senate Republican Jeff Flake told National Public Radio.
The letter could jeopardize the fragile bipartisan coalition of senators seeking to pass two crucial bills on Iran: one that would tighten sanctions on Tehran e in the event a nuclear deal falls apart, and another that would require congressional approval of any agreement with Tehran.
"My goal is to get 67 or more people on something that will affect the outcome," Corker said, referring to the two-thirds Senate majority needed to overcome a presidential veto.
Obama ‘Embarrassed’
The U.S. president said he was "embarrassed" for Republicans. "I am embarrassed for them," Obama said in an interview with Vice media, which is expected to be released Monday.
"For them to address a letter to … (Iran) and their basic argument to them is: don't deal with our president because you can't trust him to follow through on an agreement. It's close to unprecedented."
A new round of talks between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif is due to take place in Lausanne, Switzerland on March 15.
European allies are also joining the Obama administration in criticizing Republicans, saying the letter has been counterproductive and come at a particularly sensitive time in the talks.
"Suddenly, Iran can say to us: ‘Are your proposals actually trustworthy if 47 senators say that no matter what the government agrees to, we can subsequently take it off the table?’ ” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Thursday during a visit to Washington.
"This is no small matter we’re talking about,” Steinmeier warned in remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "This is not just an issue of American domestic politics.”
Germany, France and Britain, along with Russia and China, are U.S. negotiating partners in the Iran talks.
Secretary of State John F. Kerry told lawmakers that the letter to Iran by 47 Republican senators "risks undermining the confidence that foreign governments in thousands of important agreements commit to. It purports to tell the world that if you want to have any confidence in your dealings with America, they have to negotiate with 535 members of Congress”.
Following publication of the letter Sunday night, French Ambassador Gerard Araud, a diplomat of long experience in the U.S., posted a Twitter link to the letter and his own comment that "for a foreigner, Washington can be full of surprise”.
In London on Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told a parliamentary committee that new legislation on Iran "could become a spanner in the works” and "have an unpredictable effect on leadership opinion and public opinion in Tehran”.
Lawmakers caused a political furor with their controversial letter Monday that warned an international nuclear deal with Iran could be scrapped by the next U.S. president, particularly if Congress does not give its seal of approval.
The White House has said it responds to such petitions when they reach the 100,000-signature threshold, providing President Barack Obama's administration with another opportunity to slam a letter that it considers inflammatory.
According to the petition, the 47 senators "committed a treasonous offense when they decided to violate the Logan Act, a 1799 law which forbids unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign governments".
Critics argue that the lawmakers, including at least three potential Republican 2016 presidential candidates, broke the law, or at least violated the traditions of Congress, by directly engaging a foreign power on U.S. foreign policy.
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden pilloried the letter, as did several Democratic congressional leaders. Iran's Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif called it "unprecedented and undiplomatic".
With no one indicted under the Logan Act since 1803, and zero successful prosecutions under that law, it is highly unlikely the 47 lawmakers -- who include top Senate Republican leaders -- are going to prison.
But the petition does help highlight the intensely divisive nature of the letter, which some in the Republican Party have acknowledged was not the ideal strategy for confronting Iran.
Negotiations with the Islamic Republic "are tough enough here and I didn't think it was appropriate to add another element that makes it more difficult", Senate Republican Jeff Flake told National Public Radio.
The letter could jeopardize the fragile bipartisan coalition of senators seeking to pass two crucial bills on Iran: one that would tighten sanctions on Tehran e in the event a nuclear deal falls apart, and another that would require congressional approval of any agreement with Tehran.
"My goal is to get 67 or more people on something that will affect the outcome," Corker said, referring to the two-thirds Senate majority needed to overcome a presidential veto.
Obama ‘Embarrassed’
The U.S. president said he was "embarrassed" for Republicans. "I am embarrassed for them," Obama said in an interview with Vice media, which is expected to be released Monday.
"For them to address a letter to … (Iran) and their basic argument to them is: don't deal with our president because you can't trust him to follow through on an agreement. It's close to unprecedented."
A new round of talks between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif is due to take place in Lausanne, Switzerland on March 15.
European allies are also joining the Obama administration in criticizing Republicans, saying the letter has been counterproductive and come at a particularly sensitive time in the talks.
"Suddenly, Iran can say to us: ‘Are your proposals actually trustworthy if 47 senators say that no matter what the government agrees to, we can subsequently take it off the table?’ ” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Thursday during a visit to Washington.
"This is no small matter we’re talking about,” Steinmeier warned in remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "This is not just an issue of American domestic politics.”
Germany, France and Britain, along with Russia and China, are U.S. negotiating partners in the Iran talks.
Secretary of State John F. Kerry told lawmakers that the letter to Iran by 47 Republican senators "risks undermining the confidence that foreign governments in thousands of important agreements commit to. It purports to tell the world that if you want to have any confidence in your dealings with America, they have to negotiate with 535 members of Congress”.
Following publication of the letter Sunday night, French Ambassador Gerard Araud, a diplomat of long experience in the U.S., posted a Twitter link to the letter and his own comment that "for a foreigner, Washington can be full of surprise”.
In London on Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told a parliamentary committee that new legislation on Iran "could become a spanner in the works” and "have an unpredictable effect on leadership opinion and public opinion in Tehran”.