The Hatch Act of 1939, An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities, prohibits civil servants in the executive branch of the US federal government from engaging in partisan political activity. The Office of Special Counsel advised in 2019 that White House counselor Kellyanne Conway be terminated over repeated violations.
Special Counsel Henry Kerner issued a memo Monday saying that Dr. Peter Navarro, an economist who serves as assistant to the president and director of Office for Trade and Manufacturing Policy, “engaged in prohibited political activity.”
Kerner noted the Trump administration official provided no comment to the OSC when given the opportunity to respond to the probe’s results.
The accompanying investigation documents highlighted Navarro, while acting as head of the Office for Trade and Manufacturing Policy, “repeatedly attacked 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden during official media interviews.”
“His campaign rhetoric was intended to harm Mr. Biden’s presidential candidacy and encourage viewers not to vote for him in the 2020 election,” the OSC assessed.
“By using his official platform as a high-level White House official to engage in these partisan attacks, Dr. Navarro violated the Hatch Act’s prohibition against using his official authority or influence to affect an election.”
In October alone, at least 16 officials in the US president’s administration violated the Hatch Act, according to a November 2 report from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). The 16 civil servants allegedly racked up more than 60 cumulative violations.
CREW and Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-NJ) separately voiced their concerns to the special counsel around the November 3 presidential election. The latter accused the US president of “using the White House and Old Executive Office Building as a campaign command center and election day war room.”
Sourse: sputniknews.com
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