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Notes -
Here’s the text
“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.“
I believe a tweet can count as indirectly. You could actually have very engaged conversations online without ever directly talking. Musks tweets his thoughts. Putin blogs or tweets his thoughts. Then you give your thoughts on Putin thoughts. And then Musks controls the communication channels in the war via Starlink. So he can give Russia a real advantage on the battlefield. I think there’s a clear attempt to influence Russia - “a lot of us Americans are interested in this deal”. There is obviously a dispute since there’s war.
The statute doesn’t say anything about “negotiating on behalf of the US government”. It only says “intent to influence a foreign government”.
So yes as that statute is written I think he’s guilty and it’s not even that “novel” of a legal theory. Though it’s likely he would win later by challenging the law on first amendment grounds but that’s later so maybe 3 years in jail before the law is overturned. So still punished.
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