The government’s chief political watchdog said Thursday that White House adviser Kellyanne Conway has “repeatedly” broken the Hatch Act by mixing politics with official government business, and told President Trump to fire her.
Special Counsel Henry J. Kerner, who polices federal employees’ politicking, said Mrs. Conway’s “disregard” for the law is palpable and wouldn’t be tolerated in any regular federal employee. But since Mrs. Conway is a presidential appointee at the White House, it’s up to him to discipline her.
“Never has OSC had to issue multiple reports to the president concerning Hatch Act violations by the same individual,” he wrote. “OSC respectfully requests that Mrs. Conway be held to the same standards as all other federal employees and, as such, you find removal from federal service to be the appropriate disciplinary action.”
From her Twitter account to her frequent appearances on television from the White House lawn, he said Mrs. Conway makes a regular practice of politicking while on government time — and he said it’s the worst case the Office of Special Counsel has ever seen for a senior presidential adviser.
An indignant White House fired back, accusing Mr. Kerner of political bias and selective outrage.
The White House released a lengthy letter its top lawyer wrote earlier this week begging Mr. Kerner to delay release of the report, and complaining that he violated his own rules in rushing to ding Mrs. Conway.
DOCUMENT: Report to President Trump on Kellyanne Conway and Hatch Act violations
White House Counsel Pat Cipollone said the OSC’s work was riddled with errors, and seemed to be the product of a personal grudge Mr. Kerner had against Mrs. Conway after she publicly thumbed her nose at the Hatch Act last month, daring the government to jail her.
“Personal pique appears to have influences the outcome of this investigation,” Mr. Cipllone wrote, calling the request for a president to fire a close adviser “extraordinary.”
White House spokesman Steven Groves, in a statement, added that Mrs. Conway’s forays into politics are protected by the First Amendment and called the special counsel’s report “deeply flawed.”
“Its decisions seem to be influenced by media pressure and liberal organizations — and perhaps OSC should be mindful of its own mandate to act in a fair, impartial, non-political manner, and not misinterpret or weaponize the Hatch Act,” Mr. Groves said.
Mrs. Conway told reporters at the White House, “I have no reaction.”
The Office of Special Counsel is not the same as the Justice Department special counsel.
It’s a separate agency responsible for policing the Hatch Act, the law that prohibits government employees from politicking while on government time.
Mr. Kerner issued a 17-page report detailing Mrs. Conway’s violations, and pointing to her seeming indifference to the law.
“Let me know when the jail sentence starts,” she told reporters last month when asked about her mixing politics with her government job.
He said her Twitter account regularly mixes the two roles, and her frequent appearances to talk to reporters at the White House show “a pattern of partisan attacks” on the Democratic presidential candidates.
“Ms. Conway’s advocacy against the Democratic candidates and open endorsement of the president’s reelection effort during both official media appearances and on her Twitter account constitute prohibited political activity under the Hatch Act,” he wrote.
Mr. Cipollone, in his letter to the OSC this week, said there aren’t binding rules on how social media accounts can be used, and said its approach to Mrs. Conway’s Twitter account — which she had before joining the White House — strikes at free speech.
He also said it’s unreasonable to treat every comment a White House adviser makes on a presidential candidate as a violation of rules, and said when Mrs. Conway was referring to them she was generally talking about their policies.
Mr. Kerner, though, said there were “numerous aggravating factors” against Mrs. Conway, including repeated warnings she’s ignored.
Thursday’s report follows a 2018 report that first dinged Mrs. Conway for television appearances taking a stand on the 2017 Alabama special election for a U.S. Senate seat.
Mrs. Conway, a GOP strategist and pollster before joining the White House, now serves as “counselor to the president.”
Mr. Kerner said his office has had to investigate senior officials from both parties before, but Mrs. Conway’s case is the worst they’ve ever had.
Past violations including Julian Castro, now a 2020 presidential hopeful who in 2016 was an Obama Cabinet secretary, when he was dinged for talking with a reporter about his chances of being picked as a vice presidential nominee.
Despite saying his answer was in his “personal” capacity, the OSC still said he politicked on government time.
Unlike Mrs. Conway, Mr. Castro was contrite, saying he thought he’d been complying with the law but accepted the adverse conclusion.
OSC also dinged then-Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in 2012 when during a speech she called for President Barck Obama to be reelected.
OSC has also cited the White Houses run by Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush as illegally mixing politics with government business.
• Dave Boyer contributed to this article.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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