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"Once in office in 1985, Kerry acted on his words. He held a news conference accusing the U.S. government of financing terrorism. "Foreign policy should represent the democratic values that have made our country great, not subvert those values by funding terrorism to overthrow the governments of other countries," Kerry said in a statement. He announced he and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) would go to Managua, the Nicaraguan capital. The pair of Vietnam-era radicals held two days of secret talks with Sandinista junta leader Daniel Ortega, timing the visit just before a scheduled vote on release of the $14 million to the freedom fighters. "
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.), who was also at loggerheads with the administration over Central America, took the unusual step April 23 of rebuking his colleagues and accusing Kerry and Harkin of breaking the law and "transgressing" against the Constitution by holding unauthorized negotiations with a foreign leader.
With Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) heaping praise on the Managua trip, Goldwater said Kerry and Harkin "negotiated over there ... and now they're trying to force the president of the United States to negotiate with the president of Nicaragua. I honestly think two members of our body are violating the [federal] code when they undertake to negotiate" and are "usurping a section of the Constitution" giving only the president the right to negotiate with foreign leaders, Goldwater said. "To transgress against the Constitution is wrong, wrong, wrong."
Kerry shot back that he was "a veteran of Vietnam who fought and was wounded in that conflict." He added that Secretary of State George P. Shultz had encouraged the trip, quoting from a letter to House Speaker Tip O'Neill (D-Mass.) encouraging "congressional travel to Nicaragua and Central America."
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