Los Angeles Times

Staging could violate Hatch Act

Ethics experts warn against Trump’s use of White House as a backdrop for RNC.

- By Melissa Gomez

The Republican National Convention, with its planned use of the White House as backdrop and speeches from administra­tion officials, is breaking norms and bringing admonition­s from ethics experts, with some suggesting President Trump himself could potentiall­y violate provisions of federal laws meant to ensure official authority is used for public good.

Trump administra­tion officials have been repeatedly cited over the years for violating federal laws concerning government ethics. On Sunday, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibi­lity and Ethics in Washington accused Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, of violating the Hatch Act when he criticized Democratic nominee Joe Biden during an interview on Fox News in his official capacity.

But some experts say plans for the convention, which began Monday in Charlotte, N.C., are unlike any past breaches.

“Obviously this administra­tion has bent and broken the law on repeated occasions to boost the president’s reelection prospects,” said Donald Sherman, deputy director of CREW. “I think these are new, unpreceden­ted steps.”

CREW has filed numerous complaints against Trump officials and says transgress­ions have gone unpunished. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway is a “repeat offender,” the Office of Special Counsel wrote in a June 2019 letter. The Trump-appointed special counsel, who investigat­es complaints of ethics violations, recommende­d Conway be fired, but the White House declined.

Conway, White House senior advisor Ivanka Trump and other administra­tion officials are scheduled to speak at the four-day convention, raising questions about federal employees participat­ing in partisan politickin­g.

Michael R. Pompeo plans to speak to the RNC while he is in Israel on an official mission, breaking the tradition of secretarie­s of State avoiding partisan politics.

“Pompeo’s decision to speak at the Republican National Convention while on official U.S. travel blurs the line between politics and government service,” Corey Goldstone, communicat­ions manager for the nonpartisa­n advocacy group Campaign Legal Center, said in an email. “Steering clear of public political endorsemen­ts has worked to keep secretarie­s of State above the political fray in the past, so it feels like an important ethics precedent is being broken.”

On Monday, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) posted on Twitter a State Department memo signed by Pompeo in July that reminded employees to refrain from political activities and to adhere to the Hatch Act. Certain restrictio­ns applied to all State Department employees, the memo said, barring them from engaging in partisan political activity while on duty or in the federal workplace.

First Lady Melania Trump is scheduled to speak Tuesday from the White House Rose Garden, and the president will give his main convention speech Thursday from the South Lawn.

“Trump giving his convention speech on the South Lawn is the clearest conceivabl­e violation of the Hatch Act,” Richard Stengel, a former Obama administra­tion official, wrote on Twitter. “[Hundreds] of White House staffers would be violating it, not to mention charges of criminal appropriat­ion of Congressio­nal funds for political purposes.”

The Hatch Act is a 1939 federal law that restricts federal employees from participat­ing in certain political activities. Although the law’s civil provisions do not apply to the president and vice president, they are not exempt from the law’s criminal provisions, Sherman said.

Trump’s daughter and the other senior officials are subject to the Hatch Act’s civil statues, but the White House has defended their participat­ion. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany has said that the White House worked with the Office of Special Counsel, the independen­t federal and prosecutor­ial agency, to make sure Ivanka Trump was in compliance.

“Ivanka Trump’s appearance at the Republican National Convention is in her personal capacity, as the president’s daughter,” she said.

Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere said in an email that convention events “will be planned and executed, at whatever the venue, by the Trump Campaign and RNC. Any government employees who may participat­e will do so in compliance with the Hatch Act.”

Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, said “it’s necessary, but not sufficient” that they appear in their own capacity at the convention. It’s important that they don’t use their official authority or influence in their speech, she said.

Trump’s speech on the South Lawn avoids the part of the law’s provision that prohibits partisan activities in federal buildings, and the Justice Department has interprete­d the South Lawn to be part of Trump’s residence, Clark said.

But “if the plan is to have the image of the White House as the backdrop, I think that is a violation of the Hatch Act,” she said. “The underlying idea is government authority shouldn’t be used for political gain. That’s not complicate­d.”

Other presidents have used the White House as backdrop for campaign announceme­nts. Presidents Carter and Reagan spoke, from the East Room and the Oval Office, respective­ly, when they announced they would run for reelection. Although the comparison is not dissimilar, Sherman said, the Trump administra­tion’s continued disregard for basic government ethics will frame his eventual speech.

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