It's [reported this week][1] that "Trump aides were in constant touch with senior Russian officials during [the presidential] campaign".

In the CNN article linked above, it states that it's not unusual for a campaign staff and representatives to communicate with foreign governments.

> Officials **emphasized that communications between campaign staff and representatives of foreign governments are not unusual**. However, these communications stood out to investigators due to the frequency and the level of the Trump advisers involved. Investigators have not reached a judgment on the intent of those conversations.

> *(emphasis mine)*

**So, my questions are:**

1. Why is this not unusual, have there been precedence of other campaigns in the past that communicated with foreign governments during the election campaign?

2. Isn't this a violation of the [Logan Act][2] which prohibits citizens from carrying out on "any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government" since campaign staff are citizens too?

**Non-opinionated answers with sources are appreciated.**


  [1]: http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/14/politics/donald-trump-aides-russians-campaign/index.html
  [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan_Act