Did Rep. Pramila Jayapal finally provide a Logan Act test case?
She admitted to working with foreign governments to bypass Trump’s oil embargo on Cuba. That’s as close to a congressional Logan Act violation as we’ll ever see.
Andrea Widburg | May 16, 2026
It’s long been conceded that the president controls foreign policy, although Congress, as a body, has the power to limit that control. Currently, Trump’s foreign policy is to prevent Cuba from having access to oil. The point of this embargo is to bring the regime to breaking point—and to encourage its beleaguered people to rise up—ending one of the world’s most evil regimes, which has long been a threat on our southern flank.
However, there’s one person in Congress who thinks this is a really bad idea: Rep. Pramila Jayapal (Socialist-WA). To that end, Jayapal admittedly pursued her own foreign policy, separate from any congressional action, to get oil to Cuba. Her actions are as close to a test case of the Logan Act as we’re ever going to see.
Because it was first passed in 1798 and last amended in 1948, the Logan Act is simply written. Here is 18 U.S. Code § 953, in its entirety, and I’ve highlighted what I believe are the pertinent parts:
Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
This section shall not abridge the right of a citizen to apply, himself or his agent, to any foreign government or the agents thereof for redress of any injury which he may have sustained from such government or any of its agents or subjects.
Distilled to the highlighted language, it says, “Any citizen of the United States...who, without authority of the United States...commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government...to defeat the measures of the United States” shall be fined and/or imprisoned.
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https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/05/did_rep_pramila_jayapal_finally_provide_a_logan_act_test_case.html
