Ethics Office: Kellyanne Conway Should Be Fired For Violating Hatch Act

Kellyanne Conway

The office that oversees ethics for the White House has recommended that White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway be removed from federal service after repeated violations of the Hatch Act, which "prohibits government employees from making political statements while acting in an official capacity," according to CBS News.

The Office of the Special Counsel — the ethics office for the White House, which is unrelated to former special counsel Robert Mueller — sent a report to the president Thursday finding that Conway had violated the act "on numerous occasions" by criticizing Democratic presidential candidates in TV interviews and on social media.

While the president and vice president are exempt from the Hatch Act, that privilege does not extend to federal employees.

"Ms. Conway's violations, if left unpunished, would send a message to all federal employees that they need not abide by the Hatch Act's restrictions. Her actions thus erode the principal foundation of our democratic system — the rule of law," the OSC said in the letter to Mr. Trump, calling Conway a "repeat offender."

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Conway has laughed at the violations in the past.

"If you're trying to silence me through the Hatch Act, it's not going to work," she told reporters in May. "Let me know when the jail sentence starts."

This legal conclusion comes as no surprise. The surprise — shock, actually — would come if Trump were to act on this recommendation and fire Ms. Conway. He obviously won’t. https://t.co/RtlyOzby8F

— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) June 13, 2019

The presumptive penalty for violation of the Hatch Act is dismissal. When I was a federal employee, I received extensive training on this point.

Why should Kellyanne Conway be treated differently from any other federal employee? She has violated the Hatch Act multiple times. https://t.co/IotIDH4pLQ

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) June 13, 2019

Elijah Cummings on Kellyanne Conway: “Complying with the law is not optional. President Trump should terminate Ms. Conway’s employment immediately in light of these dozens of violations of federal law.“

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 13, 2019