New York Times opinion writer and MSNBC contributor Bret Stephens said Tuesday even if Mike Flynn spoke to the Russian ambassador after Donald Trump won the 2016 election and before he took office that doesn't mean he did not violate the arcane Logan Act of 1799.



"This wasn't let me, you know, let me get to know you. This is help us obstruct a goal of an outgoing administration. And what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. No Republican administration would want an incoming Democratic administration to do, so Republicans should take this seriously. People say it's the Logan Act, it's 218 years old. It's still a law in the books," Stephens argued.





STEPHANIE RUHLE: How do conservatives explain this? Are they making the argument it would be normal during the transition time for any team to speak to other countries?







BRET STEPHENS, NEW YORK TIMES: I remember back in 1991, Jimmy Carter was doing some freelance diplomacy on the eve of the War in Kuwait and the Bush administration, the senior Bush administration, seriously thought about charging or threatening Former President Carter with the Logan Act because there is a rule in this country that we have one president at a time.



Now, it happened that at least in one case the Obama administration was doing something I didn't like politically which is it was allowing a resolution against Israel that I oppose. Nonetheless, it is the constitutional right even of a presidency in its final days to conduct the foreign policy of the United States without interference.



And what conservatives will say is of course, but they were doing sort of preparatory work because they're about to come into office. But this wasn't preparatory work. This wasn't let me, you know, let me get to know you. This is help us obstruct a goal of an outgoing administration. And what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. No Republican administration would want an incoming Democratic administration to do, so Republicans should take this seriously. People say it's the Logan Act, it's 218 years old. It's still a law in the books.