Trump aide aims ire at GOP conservative
WASHINGTON — A top adviser to President Trump has urged the defeat of a member of a conservative group of U.S. House lawmakers who derailed the White House on legislation to repeal and replace the Obama-era health care law.
Government ethics lawyers said the tweet Saturday by White House social media director Dan Scavino Jr. violated federal law that limits political activity by government employees. The White House denied Scavino had run afoul of the law.
Two days after Trump himself tweeted a threat to the conservative House Freedom Caucus, a group of fellow Republicans, Scavino followed up Saturday by singling out Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., for criticism and urging Trump supporters to defeat the congressman in next year’s primary election.
“@realDonaldTrump is bringing auto plants & jobs back to Michigan. @justinamash is a big liability. #TrumpTrain, defeat him in primary,” Scavino tweeted.
Amash, who began serving his fourth House term in January, responded by re-tweeting Scavino and adding: “Trump admin & Establishment have merged into #Trumpstablishment. Same old agenda: Attack conservatives, libertarians & independent thinkers.”
Ethics lawyers who worked for both Republican and Democratic presidents said Scavino violated the Hatch Act, a federal law that limits political activity by government employees. They said it didn’t matter that Scavino tweeted from an account marked as “personal” and not from his official government Twitter account.
Daniel Jacobson, a White House lawyer under President Barack Obama, tweeted that White House staff “can’t use an official or de facto govt Twitter acct (which this is) to call for defeat of a candidate. De facto means that if you tweet only about WH work from your account, it’s an official account. Labeling ‘personal’ doesn’t change that.”
Richard Painter, who at one time was the chief White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, called attention to the description beneath the photo on the account Scavino has designated as personal. It shows Scavino in the Oval Office, and he is identified as director of social media and a senior adviser to Trump.
“This is use of official position to influence an election,” Painter tweeted. “Look at the photo and description underneath. Bush WH would have fired him.”
The White House said in a statement that the tweet did not violate federal law “as it clearly comes from his personal account and not his official White House account.” It said Scavino created an official account after he started working at the White House “to ensure compliance with the Hatch Act and he has taken the necessary steps to ensure there is a clear distinction between both Twitter accounts.”