{"slug":"trump-hatch-act-use-white-house-campaign","title":"Hatch Act Violations: Using White House and Federal Resources for Campaign Events","date":"2020-08-27","lastUpdated":"2020-11-02","description":"The 2020 Republican National Convention used the White House grounds as a backdrop for political speeches in an unprecedented manner. On August 27, 2020, Trump gave his acceptance speech from the South Lawn of the White House, and multiple administration officials gave convention speeches from federal government property. The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) investigated and found that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who gave a convention address from Jerusalem on official travel, violated the Hatch Act. Multiple other administration officials were referred for investigation. The OSC noted that Trump himself is exempt from the Hatch Act.","summary":"The 2020 Republican National Convention featured events staged at the White House — a building owned by the federal government and maintained with taxpayer funds — in ways that previous administrations of both parties had avoided. The OSC, which enforces the Hatch Act prohibiting federal employees from using their official capacity or government resources for political activity, found multiple violations. Secretary Pompeo's Jerusalem speech was the highest-profile Hatch Act referral; the OSC concluded he had violated the act. Other officials investigated included Kellyanne Conway (previously recommended for removal for Hatch Act violations in 2019). The naturalization ceremony conducted by USCIS Director Cuccinelli at the convention for five new citizens was also reviewed.","category":"rule-of-law","severity":"major","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/28/us/politics/republican-national-convention-white-house.html","title":"Republicans Used the White House as a Convention Backdrop","publisher":"The New York Times"},{"url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pompeo-hatch-act-violation/2020/09/01/story.html","title":"Pompeo violated the Hatch Act with RNC speech from Jerusalem, watchdog finds","publisher":"The Washington Post"},{"url":"https://apnews.com/article/trump-hatch-act-white-house-rnc-violations","title":"OSC finds Pompeo violated Hatch Act; multiple officials referred","publisher":"The Associated Press"},{"url":"https://osc.gov/News/Pages/21-01-Pompeo.aspx","title":"OSC Investigative Report — Pompeo Hatch Act Violation","publisher":"U.S. Office of Special Counsel"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["Hatch-Act","White-House","RNC","first-term","Pompeo","rule-of-law","corruption"],"relatedEntries":[],"timeline":[{"date":"2019-06-13","title":"OSC recommends Conway removal for Hatch Act violations","summary":"The Office of Special Counsel recommends Kellyanne Conway's removal from federal service for repeated Hatch Act violations — the first such recommendation for a senior White House official. The Trump administration declines to act."},{"date":"2020-08-24","title":"RNC events begin at White House","summary":"Republican National Convention events begin using White House grounds, including an address by Melania Trump from the Rose Garden. Previous conventions of both parties had avoided using federal government property."},{"date":"2020-08-27","title":"Trump acceptance speech from White House South Lawn","summary":"Trump delivers his RNC acceptance speech from the White House South Lawn before hundreds of guests — the first time the executive mansion was used as a partisan convention venue in modern history."},{"date":"2020-09-01","title":"OSC finds Pompeo violated Hatch Act","summary":"The OSC issues a finding that Secretary Pompeo violated the Hatch Act by delivering an RNC speech from Jerusalem while on official State Department travel. The finding is referred to the State Department."}],"location":{"name":"Washington, D.C.","lat":38.9072,"lng":-77.0369},"custom":{"era":"first-term","posture":"reported","warCrimeClassification":"enabling","internationalLaw":[],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"Integrity of federal civil service norms and the separation of government resources from political campaigns; democratic norms protecting the non-politicization of government institutions","structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"President; held acceptance speech from White House grounds; personally exempt from Hatch Act but directed the use of federal resources for political convention","institution":"White House"},{"name":"Mike Pompeo","role":"Secretary of State; gave Republican National Convention speech from Jerusalem while on official government travel; found by OSC to have violated the Hatch Act","institution":"U.S. State Department"},{"name":"Kellyanne Conway","role":"Senior Counselor to the President; recommended for removal by OSC in 2019 for repeated Hatch Act violations; resigned August 2020","institution":"White House"}],"updateLog":[{"date":"2020-09-01","summary":"Updated with OSC Pompeo finding."}]}}