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Speaker 1: And now it's time for our daily Bloomberg Law Brief,

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Speaker 1: exploring legal issues in the news. And the Bloomberg Law

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Speaker 1: Brief is brought to you by American Arbitration Association. International

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Speaker 1: Trade or Business Dispute Resolved Faster with the International Center

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Speaker 1: for a Dispute Resolution, the leader in Alternative Dispute Resolution

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Speaker 1: around the world. I see dr dot org. Today Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: Law host Jing Grosso and Michael Best discussed the resignation

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Speaker 1: of National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and whether or not

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Speaker 1: he will be convicted of violating the Logan Act. They

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Speaker 1: speak with Stephen Vlenick, a professor at the University of

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Speaker 1: Texas School of Law, and William Banks, founding director of

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Speaker 1: the Institute for National Security and counter Terrorism. Steve tell

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Speaker 1: us about what the Logan Act is. The Logan at

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Speaker 1: I think is the favorite, uh, dusty old chestnut that

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Speaker 1: folks like to drag out anytime someone we don't like

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Speaker 1: does something in the foreign policy that we disagree with. UM.

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Speaker 1: This is the statute, not a type of UM. The

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Speaker 1: Congress past basically in response to an incident where a

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Speaker 1: guy named Dr George Logan, who was a prominent Democratic Republican,

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Speaker 1: basically a Jeffersonian in Philadelphia. UM took America's foreign policy

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Speaker 1: with Frands into his own hands, tried to negotiate with

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Speaker 1: the French government. UM. And the statute purports to prohibit anyone,

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Speaker 1: acting without the authority of the United States m from

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Speaker 1: engaging in correspondence or communications with foreign governments that has

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Speaker 1: the effect of influencing our foreign policy. It's never been

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Speaker 1: successfully used. The last indictment was in the early nineteenth century.

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Speaker 1: There are serious constitutional objections to it, including that it's

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Speaker 1: a content based restriction on speech, and that it's vague. UM.

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Speaker 1: And you know, I don't think that Jeff Sessions is

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Speaker 1: going to be in a big hurry to prosecute Mike Flynn.

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Speaker 1: So it's a fun academic exercise, but I think it's

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Speaker 1: actually probably not at the end of the day, what

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Speaker 1: the real headline is about Michael Flynn. William That brings

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Speaker 1: up the FBI questioned Flynn in the early days of

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Speaker 1: the Trump presidency about his conversations, and investigators believe Flynn

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Speaker 1: was not entirely forthcoming to put it. According to The

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Speaker 1: New York Times, if the authorities conclude that Flynn knowingly

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Speaker 1: lie to the FBI. Could that expose him to a

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Speaker 1: felony charge from making false statements? It could? And in

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Speaker 1: contrast to the Logan Act, it's uh, it's it's written

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Speaker 1: in such a way that it pretty directly applies to

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Speaker 1: what Flynn did. It just says that anyone who is

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Speaker 1: within the jurisdiction of the government the United States knowingly

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Speaker 1: and willfully makes materially false, fictitious, defraudulent statement is is

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Speaker 1: engaged in felonious behavior. So I think there's a fair chance.

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Speaker 1: So it's the old adage that to cover up is

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Speaker 1: worse than the crime, right, So I agree with with

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Speaker 1: Steve about the Logan Act, And and it's it's not

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Speaker 1: going to happen in this case that he will be

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Speaker 1: sanctioned for what he actually might have talked to the

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Speaker 1: Russian ambassador about, but he may well be sanctioned for

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Speaker 1: a line about it to the Bureau. That's really Banks

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Speaker 1: founding director of the Institute for National Security and counter

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Speaker 1: Terrorism and Stephen of Lattic, a professor at the University

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Speaker 1: of Texas School of Law, speaking with Bloomberg Law host

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Speaker 1: joom Grasso. You can listen to Bloomberg Law weekdays at

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Speaker 1: one pm Wall Street Time Here on Bloomberg Radio and Now.

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Speaker 1: Among the top legal stories from Bloomberg Law, Southwest Airlines

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Speaker 1: wants a federal judge to order a mechanics union to

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Speaker 1: stop turning down over time requests. The airline says it's

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Speaker 1: a pressure tactic in contract talks. Southwest and the mechanics

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Speaker 1: union have been in negotiations for four and a half years.

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Speaker 1: Sixteen mediation sessions in the last year have failed to

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Speaker 1: produce an agreement. The union says Southwest claims about the

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Speaker 1: overtime boycott are false. Federal prosecutors are investigating disclosures of

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Speaker 1: sexual harassment at Fox News. The issue should its parent

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Speaker 1: twenty one Century Fox, have told investors had made secret

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Speaker 1: payments to female on here hosts who claimed they were

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Speaker 1: sexually harassed. That's according to a person familiar with the matter.

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Speaker 1: Fox says it's cooperating with the investigation. And that's this

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Speaker 1: morning's Bloomberg Lawbrary. If you can on more legal news

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Speaker 1: at Bloomberg Law dot com and Bloomberg b n A

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Speaker 1: dot com. Attorneys will find exceptional legal research and business

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Speaker 1: development tools there as well. Visit Bloomberg Law dot com

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Speaker 1: and Bloomberg BNA dot com for more information. Futures this

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Speaker 1: morning are lower. SNP futures down four points and NOW

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Speaker 1: futures down thirty NASDAC futures down to the decks. In

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Speaker 1: Germany's down a quarter percent ten your treasury up four

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Speaker 1: thirty seconds. The yel two point four seven per cent,

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Speaker 1: and Nimex Screwde oil is up less than a tenth

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Speaker 1: of a percent of four cents to fifty three fourteen barrel,

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Speaker 1: and comic schoold is up four tenths percent or four

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Speaker 1: dollars ninety cents. At twelve thirty eight. Announced the euro

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Speaker 1: a dollar oh six three two. This is Bloomberg