Overview
- Barack Obama visited Toronto for a keynote at a Canadian think tank and met Prime Minister Mark Carney during the trip.
- MAGA-aligned commentators, including Laura Loomer and Nick Sortor, accused him of a Logan Act breach and even called the meeting a coup, and some also objected to Carney calling him “President.”
- The Logan Act bars private citizens from trying to influence a foreign government in a live dispute with the United States without U.S. authority.
- Reports show Obama gave a public speech and there is no evidence he negotiated policy or sought to sway Canada’s government, which legal analyses say means the law does not apply.
- The statute has led to only two indictments and zero convictions in more than two centuries, so experts view it as a rarely enforceable provision often used as a political talking point.