Office of Special Counsel Concludes that Over a Dozen Senior Trump Officials Violated the Hatch Act

In the midst of the various investigation of Trump in New York state, as well as Manhattan and Westchester County, there is now news of  the federal investigation op into how the Trump White House committed numerous violations of the Hatch Act.

WaPo now reports that “at least” 13 senior Trump officials have been found to violate the Hatch Act, illegally mixing campaign and government events. This wasn’t just a matter of Trump telling people to disregard the Act-- it was, according to the report: “what appeared to be a taxpayer-funded campaign apparatus within the upper echelons of the executive branch.”  The list of Hatch Act violators includes Mike Pompeo, Chad Wolfe, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, Kellyanne Conway, White House director of strategic communications Alyssa Farah, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, Jared Kushner, Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany,White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Stephen Miller, Deputy White House press secretary Brian Morgenstern, Vice Presidential chief of staff Marc Short, and National security adviser Robert C. O’Brien.

Trump didn’t just mix campaign events with government events. He turned the government into a virtual campaign outpost. 

 Betsy DeVos, attacked President Joe Biden in a Fox News appearance, which she then promoted at the Department of Education. The Office of Special Counsel determined that Kellyanne Conway was a repeat offender back in 2019.  Nikki Haley got involved in the game two years before using her official Twitter account to promote Republican candidates. 

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo went so far as to deliver his RNC speech while on a supposed diplomatic mission to Jerusalem. That speech from Pompeo earned him a special mention in the Office of Special Counsel report, which cited Pompeo’s speech as a particularly flagrant example of “flouting the law.” Pompeo even edited the rules of the State Department to write in the new policy explicitly allowing him to engage in partisan political activities.

The report also concluded that the impetus for Pompeo’s violation “originated within the White House” and possibly straight from Trump. In any case, it was a prime example of Trump’s “willingness to manipulate government business for partisan political ends.”

But the biggest offender was Trump himself. Trump campaigned from the White House briefing room. He campaigned from the Oval Office. By the summer of 2020, the width and breadth of Hatch Act violations by Team Trump were genuinely “breathtaking in the contempt for the law.” That included Trump delivering his speech to the Republican National Convention from the White House grounds, in cooperation with a whole cast of supposed government officials who mingled items as solemn as a naturalization ceremony for new American citizens with promoting Trump and the Republican Party.

While there were some investigations of these violations during Trump’s period in office, the OSC notes that Trump and his officials failed to “provide the good faith cooperation necessary” to ensure compliance and enforce the rules. 

In conclusion, the OSC received hundreds of reports of Hatch Act violations by Trump officials. On investigation, at least 13 officials violated the Act one or more times. It also reports that it sought to obtain a refund of government funds used in political events, which it didn’t get.