Investigation Into 2020 RNC Convention, Special Counsel Finds Trump Administration Officials Showed “Willful Disregard” for Hatch Act…

Don’t conflate the Office of Special Counsel with Special Counsel Mueller -these are not the same entities. Trump & his Senior Advisors repeatedly violated the Hatch Act. Shocker. NYET

Prerequisite background OSC, Hatch Act & Trump Administration..

…as previously explained - albeit it’s buried in this incredibly long article -The pure egregious nature of KellyAnne Conway’s blatant and flagrant disregard for Federal Law — the OSC was completely exasperated by Ms Conway’s violations:

• June 13, 2019 OSC Formal Report as to Ms Conway’s impermissible conduct

• March 18, 2018 OSC Formal Report of Ms Conway’s flagrant violating Federal Laws, specifically the Hatch Act

And please do not remind me of my previous research but I know that some of you recall my threads where I had to explain the delineation between the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) —of which Trump actually never nominated candidates and therefore the board didn’t have a quorum. I am friends with a handful of employees at the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) —which is not at all interconnected to the 28 CFR §600 et seq Special Counsel Regulation).

• violated the Hatch Act on numerous occasions by disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in her official capacity during television interviews and on social media…

The catalyst for those threads is I saw in near real-time people slamming the OSC Twitter Timeline, Facebook Post and then in-mass calling the OSC’s office to voice their displeasure. Two of my friends at the OSC called me in tears asking;

• why do people not understand statutes and the MSPB is the adjudicating entity?

• Notwithstanding the House Democrats addressing the issues between the OSC, Office of Government Ethics (OGE) and MSPB

NEW -House Judiciary Committee went there and it’s awesome

The Office of Special Counsel (OSC)

Is NOT at all related to Special Counsel Mueller’s (now shuttered) Office - the https://osc.gov is a separate & independent Federal Enforcement Agency — as noted by the OSC website -agency mission statement, which reads in part:

U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency. Our basic authorities come from four federal statutes: the Ci​vil Service Reform Act, the Whistleblower Protection Act, the Hatch Act, and the Uniformed Services Employment & Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).​

And further explained by the OSC - prohibited personnel practices (PPP) -which clearly outlined prohibited conduct of Government Officials:

…the OSC's primary mission is to safeguard the mer​it system by protecting federal employees and applicants from prohibited personnel practices, especially reprisal for whistleblowing…

In 2019 the OSC testified before Congress concerning OSC’s contribution, whistleblower protections, working with other Government Agencies..

Prohibited personnel practices (PPPs) & Hatch Act

…are employment-related activities that are banne​​d in the federal workforce because they violate the merit system through some form of employment discrimination, retaliation, improper hiring practices, or failure to adhere to laws, rules, or regulations that directly concern the merit system principles.

OSC has the authority to investigate and prosecute violations of the 14 PPPs.​​

Below are the areas of PPP that the OSC enforces:

• Discrimination - An agency official shall not discriminate against an employee or applicant based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability (or handicapping condition), marital status, or political affiliation. 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b​)(1)

• Coercin​​​​​g Political Activity: An agency official shall not coerce the political activity of any person or retaliate against an employee for refusing to engage in political activity. 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b)(3) “This PPP is in p​​​lace to help keep partisan politics out of the federal workplace. An employee cannot be pressured into political activity by a superior. This section also prohibits retaliation against an employee for refusing to engage in political activity. Allegations of this kind should be filed with OSC's Hatch Act”

As noted in the newly Published OSC Report - on August 5, 2020 president (nope I’m never going to use a capital P) Trump was directly asked about the 2020 RNC using the White House as the venue:

…There is no Hatch Act because it doesn’t pertain to the president…

..August 5, 2020, President Trump was asked about the Hatch Act implications of using the White House as the venue for the RNC. He responded, “There is no Hatch Act because it doesn’t pertain to the president.”

…OSC investigated those complaints and determined that hosting the RNC at the White House did not itself violate the Hatch Act, but that at least 13 senior Trump administration officials did violate the Hatch Act prior to the election. Each of these high-profile violations was committed by an official OSC believes, based on current law, could only have been disciplined by then-President Donald J. Trump

...with respect to an administration’s senior-most officials—whom only the president can discipline for violating the Hatch Act—the Hatch Act is only as effective in ensuring a depoliticized federal workforce as the president decides it will be. Where, as happened in the Trump administration, the White House chooses to ignore the Hatch Act’s requirements, there is currently no mechanism for holding senior administration officials accountable for violating the law.

I never want to hear how I was wrong about the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and the lack of quorum during the Trump Administration. I have several friends at the OSC, two of whom called me balling because some high profile twitter user falsely told their followers that the OSC is letting the Trump Administration repeatedly violate the Hatch Act and then instructed their followers to “blow up the OSC main switch board” —I wasn’t wrong but I know plenty of Twitter users who are and were wrong about the OSC & MSPB…I now refer you to page 2 of the OSC Executive Summary -read it or not…

…there is no MSPB quorum, as was the case during the entirety of the Trump administration..

Under current law, OSC may seek disciplinary action, up to and including removal from federal service, against most federal employees who violate the Hatch Act by prosecuting alleged violations before the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB)

… OSC may only submit a report to the president. This is both legally required, as OSC believes there are significant constitutional concerns with the MSPB disciplining commissioned officers and as a practical matter the only recourse available to OSC when there is no MSPB quorum, as was the case during the entirety of the Trump administration

..OSC has concluded that the Trump administration tacitly or expressly approved myriad Hatch Act violations..

. .committed within that critical period immediately prior to the 2020 election during which OSC was unable to both investigate and resolve the violations before election day.which OSC was unable to both investigate and resolve the violations before election day.

• Brian Morgenstern, then a White House Deputy Press Secretary, said in one interview that candidate Biden was “hiding away” because the Biden campaign knows “the more America sees of their ticket, the less they like them.

• Robert O’Brien, then the National Security Advisor, said in an interview “I expect the president to be reelected and reelected overwhelmingly” and moments later rhetorically asked “who do you want to turn to to rebuild the economy—the guy who’s proven he can do it, President Trump, or somebody who’s been in Washington for 40 years?”

• Marc Short, then the Vice President’s Chief of Staff, said during one interview that the election would “present a tremendous contrast to the American people to choose between a freedom and opportunity agenda that the Trump/Pence administration stands for versus a path to socialism and decay that we believe the Biden/Harris ticket stands for.”

• Michael Pompeo, who OSC concludes violated the Hatch Act by changing U.S. Department of State (State Department) policy to allow himself to speak at the convention and then, when engaging in political activity by delivering that speech, using his official authority by repeatedly referencing the work of the State Department.

• Chad Wolf, who OSC concludes violated the Hatch Act by presiding over a naturalization ceremony that was orchestrated for the purpose of creating content for the convention…

The OSC concluded the following additional Senior Trump Administration Officials Violated the Hatch Act:

… over the course of 18 different official interviews or media appearances, and in each case made official statements directed toward the success of President Trump’s reelection campaign and/or the failure of now-President Bident’s campaign.  The report found the following senior officials violated the Hatch Act:

• Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to the President;

• Mark Meadows, White House Chief of Staff;

• Kayleigh McEnany, White House Press Secretary;

• Kellyanne Conway, Senior Counselor to the President;

• Stephen Miller, Senior Advisor to the President for Policy;

• Dan Brouillette, Secretary of Energy;

• David Friedman, U.S. Ambassador to Israel;

• Alyssa Farah, White House Director of Strategic Communications; and

…Trump administration’s willingness to manipulate government business for partisan political ends…

..both violations stemmed from requests that originated within the White House—or, in Secretary Pompeo’s case, possibly the Trump campaign or President Trump himself—and thus they reflect the Trump administration’s willingness to manipulate government business for partisan political ends…

In direct contradiction to that unfortunate comment, OSC was inundated with calls, emails, and complaints from members of the public in response to the violations described in this report. The cumulative effect of these repeated and public violations was to undermine public confidence in the nonpartisan operation of government.

The OSC then opined about seven enforcement challenges which substantially affected (in an adverse way) the OSC’s ability to ensure that senior Trump administration officials complied with the restrictions that Congress imposed upon their political activity. Those enforcement challenges, and potential fixes for each…

Again the OSC Report can be read in its entirety, found here and not to belabor the fine points in September 2021 I walked you through the proposed legislation;

Protecting Our Democracy Act (H.R. 5314) —which includes the Hatch Act Accountability Act, to strengthen enforcement and penalties for political appointees who violate the Hatch Act.  The proposed bill would:

• Strengthen OSC’s ability to investigate violations of the Hatch Act;

• Clarify that employees of the Executive Office of the President and the Office of the Vice President can be investigated and disciplined for Hatch Act violations;

• Authorize the Merit Systems Protection Board to issue fines for Hatch Act violations committed by senior political appointees; and

• Increase the maximum fine for Hatch Act violations by senior political appointees to $50,000.

• see September 2021 CBO report re H.R. 5314

The point? Trump and his Senior Administration Officials repeatedly violated the Hatch Act and they did so with impunity. And perhaps it would be wise to actually listen to individuals who give you an insane amount of public documents, overtly explain that a lack of quorum greatly hampered the OSC or continue to believe the unhinged conspiracy theories. It’s your choice but I’d rather stand in the sunshine and (repeatedly) explain the various challenges with unfiltered factual documents…

-Filey

PS I’m most likely will not be publishing any meaningful articles until later in the week because the drilling metal post into my jaw has to be one of the more hellacious impacts of last month’s car accident. It hurts almost as much as having the packing removed from my nose…