In a move in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, Republican and Democratic senators jointly submitted a question about whether the Logan Act -- which prohibits U.S. citizens from communicating with foreign governments in dispute with the U.S. -- applies to the president. White House deputy counsel Patrick Philbin said “there was no
conduct of foreign policy carried out by a private person” in the case of Rudy
Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer who pushed for the ousting of the U.S.
ambassador to Ukraine. Philbin cited testimony from Ambassador Kurt Volker, who
told the House during the impeachment probe that he understood Giuliani was
simply a source of information for the president. He also pointed out that
other presidents, such as George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt, have
relied on private citizens to assist them when conducting foreign policy. A few minutes later in the trial, House manager Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., was given a chance to respond. He pushed back on the “startling admission” that Giuliani was not conducting foreign policy for Trump in Ukraine. He called the investigations that Giuliani was trying to get Ukraine to announce “a personal political errand,” not any sort of policy.
The arguments came on the second day senators were allowed to ask questions of the
House managers and Trump’s legal team on Thursday, Jan. 30. The House of
Representatives impeached Trump in December on two articles -- abuse of power
and obstruction of Congress. The questions come ahead of a vote on whether to
bring forward witnesses and documents as part of the Senate trial. The Senate
must now decide whether to acquit the president or convict him of the charges
and remove him from office.
For more on who’s who in the Trump impeachment inquiry, read:
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