They walked through the West Wing halls arrogantly flaunting the laws, subpoenas, and ethics of our American government. When reporters found that Senior Counselor during the Trump presidency, Kellyanne Conway, violated the Hatch Act in 2017, she had an answer. “Blah, blah, blah.”
The Hatch Act is a law that stops federal employees from being involved in any political activity while performing their government jobs, according to The Law & Order. A new federal investigation report that was just released unearthed at least 13 top Trump officials who mixed governing and campaigning.
Conway continued speaking to the reporters saying:
‘If you’re trying to silence me through the Hatch Act, it’s not going to work. Let me know when the jail sentence starts.’
In June 2017 the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) issued a report calling Conway a “repeat offender” who had “shown disregard for the law.” It recommended that Donald Trump fire her. But he “rejected the agency’s recommendation and imposed no penalty on Conway.”
Trump received a record 15 letters from Special Counsel Henry Kerner’s office while he was in office concerning the repeat violator — Conway.
The 1939 law was originally named the An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities The Washington Post reported:
‘The special counsel’s office fined and in some cases fired hundreds of career employees for violations during the four years when Trump was in office.’
But clearly, the law was too broad and too soft to compensate for an administration where honor was optional, and it needs updating. The report said:
‘OSC is issuing this report to educate employees about Hatch Act-prohibited activities, highlight the enforcement challenges that [the office] confronted during its investigations, and deter similar violations in the future.’
Special Counsel Kerner’s office began its investigations while Trump was in office, but just released this lengthier OSC report:
‘This failure to impose discipline created the conditions for what appeared to be a taxpayer-funded campaign apparatus within the upper echelons of the executive branch.’
The report continued:
‘The president’s refusal to require compliance with the law laid the foundation for the violations. In each of these instances, senior administration officials used their official authority or influence to campaign for President Trump. Based upon the Trump administration’s reaction to the violations, OSC concludes that the most logical inference is that the administration approved of these taxpayer-funded campaign activities.’
On the Cabinet level, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo broke the law by appearing during the Republican National Convention (RNC) to campaign for Trump. Acting homeland security chief Chad Wolf did, too, when a video of him performing a naturalization ceremony in the Rose Garden was shown at the RNC.
The Trump campaign or Trump possibly:
‘orchestrated [these] for the purpose of creating content for the convention. Thus they reflect the Trump administration’s willingness to manipulate government business for partisan political ends.’
Other political appointees who violated the law were:
- Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette
- Senior Counselor Kellyanne Conway
- White House Director of Strategic Communications Alyssa Farah
- U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman
- Senior Adviser Jared Kushner [Trump’s son-in-law]
- Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany
- White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows
- Senior Adviser Stephen Miller
- Deputy White House Press Secretary Brian Morgenstern
- Chief of Staff to Vice President Mike Pence, Marc Short
- National Security Adviser Robert C. O’Brien
Housing and Urban Development Secretary in President Joe Biden’s administration, Marcia Fudge, was also cited. The SCO dinged her for commenting in Ohio about Democrats winning the Senate in 2022. She apologized.
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