So You're Telling Me There's a Chance?

(Above) Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab spoke to the House of Commons on the Harry Dunn case, October 21, 2019.

This week SecState Pompeo visited London and held meetings with his UK counterpart, Dominic Raab, to discuss many important matters, one of which was the status of the Harry Dunn case. Last week Pompeo formally denied the UK's request to extradite the American driver involved, since at the time of the incident she had status which conveyed diplomatic immunity to the UK's criminal jurisdiction. As his spokesman explained, to extradite a person despite such immunity would negate the entire practice of diplomatic immunity.

Regarding that matter of diplomatic immunity, Foreign Secretary Rabb is in complete agreement with Pompeo, as he explained at length to the House of Commons back in October, and also as he replied to written questions submitted by the Shadow Foreign Secretary. The key exchange of their Qs and As is as follows:

Q: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether Anne Sacoolas was protected by diplomatic immunity (a) in her own right and (b) as a dependent of her husband (i) since she first arrived in the UK and (ii) on the 27 August 2019.

A: As I explained to the House on 21 October, at the time of the accident, the American involved had diplomatic immunity as a result of the notification of her husband as a member of the administrative and technical staff of the US Embassy based at the Croughton annex.

As I also explained to the House, the UK Government was notified of the family's arrival in the UK in July 2019. The individual involved held immunity from the point of her arrival.

It's very simple. The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, article 37, para 2, states "Members of the administrative and technical staff of the mission, together with members of their families forming part of their respective households, shall, if they are not nationals of or permanently resident in the receiving State, enjoy the privileges and immunities specified in articles 29 to 35 [which are the privileges and immunities enjoyed by Diplomatic Agents, including immunity to criminal jurisdiction]."

The American driver was the family member of someone notified to the UK as a member of the administration and technical staff of the U.S. mission, therefore she had immunity to criminal jurisdiction.

To argue with those facts is to deny reality.

But then, why not deny reality? For some, denial is all they have to work with.

Flailing about for something with which to feed the news cycle in the days leading up to Pompeo's visit, the Dunn family's spokesman seized on a remarkably dumb idea that has become a staple of Twitter chatter: what about trading naughty Prince Andrew for the American driver? American law enforcement reportedly wants to interview Andrew about his dealings with the late Joseph Epstein, and he reportedly has refused to cooperate. Now, a swap of those two makes no sense on any level, but let's pretend it's a serious proposal.

The idea was brought up during both of Pompeo's UK press events, to greater or lesser amounts of laughter. During his BBC event with Foreign Secretary Raab it went this way:

QUESTION: I’ll do my best. James Landale, BBC. Secretary Pompeo, first of all, now that the UK has agreed to give Huawei some access to its 5G network, is the U.S. going to make good on its threat to review its intelligence-sharing relationship with the United Kingdom? Is the risk of Huawei really worth endangering the Five Eyes relationship?

Secondly, on the Harry Dunn case, can you just explain to us in the English audience, what is it about the Special Relationship

MR GODSON: Just – can we answer the first question?

QUESTION: No, no, no. No, forgive me. What is – what is it about the Special Relationship that allows a U.S. citizen to run over and kill a young English boy and evade justice?

SECRETARY POMPEO: So let me try and take your question – I’ll try and take your questions in reverse order.

This was an enormous tragedy. An American had an accident here. The United States is terribly sorry for the tragedy that took place, the loss of a British citizen’s life. It was horrible. We’re doing everything we can to make that right. We’re doing so in a way that I think protects the important relationship between the two countries as well. We’ll continue to work on this. Dominic raised this with me yesterday when we spoke. I think he raised it with me each time we’ve spoken since this has happened. We’ll continue to work our way through to try and get a good resolution, a resolution that reflects the tragedy that took place that day.

FOREIGN SECRETARY RAAB: Look, the – on the Harry Dunn case, look, of course we – there’s two basic objectives here, which is we want to see justice done for the family and we want to make sure it can never happen again and it doesn’t ever happen again. I had a good conversation with Mike about that. We’re going to work on every aspect of that and want to see this get resolved.

And you asked about the extradition treaty. We want to make that work on both sides. It’s usually valuable to both sides and the – we’re committed to it, and so we don’t want to see any weakening of it.

QUESTION: Thank you. Jason Groves from The Daily Mail. Foreign Secretary, you’ll know that there’s been a public outcry over the Harry Dunn case. Can the extradition treaty survive this? Is it under strain?

And Secretary of State, you’ll be aware that a U.S. state attorney this week asked Prince Andrew to cooperate in the FBI investigation to Jeffrey Epstein. Do you support that call? And some people are even suggesting there could be some kind of barter between the two cases. I mean, is that even possible?

SECRETARY POMPEO: I’m sorry, can you repeat the second part of that, please?

QUESTION: The second part – where did you get up to?

SECRETARY POMPEO: (Laughter.) Yeah, so the question is there would be some trade between —

QUESTION: Some people have suggested there could be some kind of bartering between we want Anne Sacoolas, you want Prince Andrew. Is there a deal to be done? (Laughter.)

SECRETARY POMPEO: Yeah, I mean, I can answer that. I am confident each of these cases will be resolved on their relative merits. It’s how – it’s how each of our two systems operate.

FOREIGN SECRETARY RAAB: Yeah, I’d totally agree. There’s no barter with – it’s a rules-based approach, that’s what the treaty does, and we both see the extradition treaty serves both sides. And we want to make it work. And so that’s the approach, and there’s no haggle, and no one’s raised Prince Andrew – frankly, no one’s ever raised that with me as of yet.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Yes. Now they have. (Laughter.)

FOREIGN SECRETARY RAAB: The Daily Mail has raised it. The good offices of The Daily Mail.

It was raised again during Pompeo's interview with LBC Radio:

QUESTION: Extradition is always a contentious area between any country, and the U.S. and UK have had their issues over the years with Gary McKinnon, where Britain didn’t extradite him, and now, of course, we’ve got the Anne Sacoolas case. How aware are you of the depth of public opinion – not actually just in Britain, but polls in America show that most Americans think that she should be extradited back here to face British justice?

SECRETARY POMPEO: I just want to re-emphasize what a tragic event this is. The loss of life as a result of this automobile accident is absolutely tragic. I can’t imagine to know the pain of the family. We have enormous sympathy for them. The President had a chance to meet with that family. We’re doing everything we can to make sure that we address all of the things that might have contributed to this – safety training, all of the things that can reduce the risk that something like this could ever happen again.

QUESTION: But she won’t be coming back here?

SECRETARY POMPEO: We’re having a conversation about a lot of things. We’re going to do everything we can to get this right and to make this as right as anybody can make it when there was a loss of life. We can never put it all the way back, sadly, but we’ll do everything we can to put this in the best possible place.

So, to recap what Pompeo said: of course the American driver will not return to the UK, but, on this sensitive occasion of a press interview, I will tap dance around that harsh fact by talking up a possible future resolution of some sort that will suit the circumstances of this tragic loss of life. And again, no, she won't return.   

Naturally, the Dunn family spokesman overlooked all that. Keeping hope and false expectations alive, he looked on the sunny side when he was interviewed by the BBC:

Radd Seiger, spokesman for Mr Dunn's family, has noted that despite his clients' caution, "the secretary of state is no longer saying [Mrs Sacoolas] will not return".

Well, he didn't, did he? Not in those interviews, anyway. He's only said she won't return when he was speaking to the UK Prime Minister, and to the Foreign Secretary, and when he refused to waive the driver's immunity, and again when he denied the extradition request. The U.S. Ambassador to the UK and President Trump have also said on multiple occasions that she will not be returned to the UK.

But, hey, he didn't say it in so many words that time. Which naturally leads to a Dumb and Dumber meme:

What are the chances of a guy like you and a girl like me... ending up together?

Not good.

Not good like one in a hundred?

I'd say more like one in a million.

So you're telling me there's a chance?

Seizing on that faintest glimmer of unrealistic hope, the family spokesman is now scheming to bring the U.S. military to its knees by holding a demonstration every now and then at the front gate of RAF Croughton, scene of the tragic accident.

He said the protest was ‘the only way to get our feelings across to Washington’. Mr Seiger added: ‘Diplomat or not, there is no escaping facing the legal system in these circumstances. ‘The US admin must also commit to never doing this again. Otherwise, US operated bases in the UK will have to close.

Pentagon, you have been warned.