Logan Act...totally bogus:
CNNs take back in February:
Heres the rub. The 218-year-old Logan Act has almost no track record, and no one has ever been prosecuted under it.
Only once, in 1803, was someone even indicted: a Kentucky farmer who wrote an article advocating for a separate Western nation allied with France. But the Louisiana Purchase later that year made the matter obsolete, the Congressional Research Service reported....
...In addition, the laws mention of a person acting without authority of the United States could be an escape hatch, Vladeck has written.
Flynn wasnt simply a private citizen; he was an adviser to the President-elect and soon would be given diplomatic powers. Legally speaking, his role may have granted him the authority to talk sanctions with Kislyak, Vladecks interpretation suggests.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/14/politics/michael-flynn-logan-act/
ABCs take from teh same time:
Even hypothetically, legal analyst Holloway said he could not stand in court and make the argument that that is a private person because Flynn was an official member of the Trump transition team and national security adviser appointee at the time of his conversations with Kislyak.
Professor Vladeck said, Its not clear to me that a member of the transition team like Gen. Flynn is even violating the Logan Act in so far its not clear that hes acting without the authority of the United States.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/explaining-logan-act-dems-mike-flynn-violated/story?id=45481930
Although Steve has previously suggested that the Logan Act couldnt be used to prosecute members of the presidential transition team (if it could be used at all, given that its been moribund for over 200 years and is, in any event, a content-based restriction on speech), an exchange over e-mail between us about Steves prior post led to this Q&A that more fully fleshes out those arguments:
https://www.justsecurity.org/37763/qa-michael-flynn-prosecuted-logan-act/
Also see:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/us/politics/logan-act-flynn.html
Thank you, Mr Rogers