Jen Psaki accused of violating Hatch Act

[NewYorkExpress]

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/576970-ethics-watchdog-accuses-psaki-of-violating-hatch-act

A government watchdog group on Friday filed an ethics complaint against White House press secretary Jen Psaki, alleging she violated the Hatch Act by appearing to endorse Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe during a press briefing.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) filed a complaint with the Office of Special Counsel requesting an investigation into whether Psaki violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal government employees from engaging in campaign activity in their official capacity.

The complaint cites Psaki's comments during a Thursday press briefing when she was asked whether the White House views the upcoming election in Virginia as a bellwether race. After saying she had to be careful to avoid campaigning from behind the podium, Psaki said "we’re going to do everything we can to help former Governor McAuliffe, and we believe in the agenda he’s representing."

"The last administration systematically co-opted the government for the president’s reelection. While this conduct does not come close to rising to the level of the outrageous offenses of the Trump administration, that does not mean we should be casual about compliance with an important ethics law,” CREW president Noah Bookbinder said in a statement. "The Biden administration should not follow the Trump administration down that path."

Psaki, appearing later on Friday on CNN, told Jake Tapper she believes it would not have been an ethics violation had she avoided saying "we" when referring to supporting McAuliffe.

"I take ethics seriously. So does this president, of course," Psaki told Jake Tapper. "And I’ll be more careful with my words next time. Words certainly matter."

[Hammy]

Hatch Act was rendered obsolete by Trump's administration, as there was zero attempt to enforce any aspect of it during that time. The precedent has been set and there's no going back.

[SteveRogers]

Hatch Act was rendered obsolete by Trump's administration, as there was zero attempt to enforce any aspect of it during that time. The precedent has been set and there's no going back.

This, unfortunately.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Hatch Act was rendered obsolete by Trump's administration, as there was zero attempt to enforce any aspect of it during that time. The precedent has been set and there's no going back.

Doesn’t mean we should just abandon standards (especially not the law) for Democrats.

[Hammy]

Hatch Act was rendered obsolete by Trump's administration, as there was zero attempt to enforce any aspect of it during that time. The precedent has been set and there's no going back.

Doesn’t mean we should just abandon standards (especially not the law) for Democrats.

If the standards are not applied equally they should not be applied at all.

[emailking]

There should be uniform standards for something like this.

[It’s so Joever]

Biden should do everything in his power to make things better for Democrats, constitutional or not.

[Hammy]

Biden should do everything in his power to make things better for Democrats, constitutional or not.

Violating the constitution would only result in courts nuking whatever he's doing, and of course giving the GOP legitimacy in whatever impeachment they run after regaining control of congress.

[Bootes Void]

What is the violation?

[brucejoel99]

What is the violation?

The bolded:

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/576970-ethics-watchdog-accuses-psaki-of-violating-hatch-act

The complaint cites Psaki's comments during a Thursday press briefing when she was asked whether the White House views the upcoming election in Virginia as a bellwether race. After saying she had to be careful to avoid campaigning from behind the podium, Psaki said "we're going to do everything we can to help former Governor McAuliffe, and we believe in the agenda he's representing."

[...]

Psaki, appearing later on Friday on CNN, told Jake Tapper she believes it would not have been an ethics violation had she avoided saying "we" when referring to supporting McAuliffe.

"I take ethics seriously. So does this president, of course," Psaki told Jake Tapper. "And I'll be more careful with my words next time. Words certainly matter."

[progressive85]

You can't come down hard on her for this when you literally ignore every single corruption under the Orange Menace... she doesn't seem like she deliberately meant to do it.... so cut the girl a break, Fox News!  You know, like you do right-wing blonde girls!

[vitoNova]

She's hot.

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

This is incredibly silly.

She said ‘we’ instead of ‘the Whitehouse’

Given that she is a Whitehouse employee, I’m not even sure how that even violates the Hatch Act unless you are being as needlessly parsimonious as possible.

This looks like because the last guy wiped his ass with the Hatch act, these guys feel like they need to hold the next guy to impossibly so they can generate a similar number of reports because bipartisan.

[Person Man]

She's hot.

I guess, but you’re horny. Right. That’s out of the way.

No one cared when Trump’s press secretaries did this and they won’t now.

[brucejoel99]

This is incredibly silly.

She said ‘we’ instead of ‘the Whitehouse’

Given that she is a Whitehouse employee, I’m not even sure how that even violates the Hatch Act unless you are being as needlessly parsimonious as possible.

This looks like because the last guy wiped his ass with the Hatch act, these guys feel like they need to hold the next guy to impossibly so they can generate a similar number of reports because bipartisan.

It violates the Hatch Act insofar as the White House Press Secretary used the influence of her podium in order to make their stance in an upcoming election clear. You can have problems with the Hatch Act, but there's no need to act like there's nothing to see here when Psaki herself has conceded & apologized for the fact that there's something to see here.

[politicallefty]

I think this law needs to be amended. People like the Press Secretary are so close to the political aspects of the Presidency that it's almost an absurdity. That's probably true of other executive jobs, but certainly not all. I would also say that it's one thin to say so-and-so supports someone versus actively campaigning for so-and-so.

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

I think this law needs to be amended. People like the Press Secretary are so close to the political aspects of the Presidency that it's almost an absurdity. That's probably true of other executive jobs, but certainly not all. I would also say that it's one thin to say so-and-so supports someone versus actively campaigning for so-and-so.

I agree with this. Jen Psaki did nothing wrong here. Get rid of stupid laws and regulations.

[Alben Barkley]

She represents the administration, she’s almost literally its mouthpiece in fact. It’s absurd if she technically isn’t allowed to push the administration’s agenda and interests. And it’s not like she doesn’t defend and support other things Biden has done. How the hell is this any different? Law really does need to be amended if it’s supposed to apply to her like that. And certainly ignored in the meantime since it was completely ignored by the Trump administration. Hell, I would have thought it was dumb if people complained if Sarah Huckabee Sanders said “we” support Roy Moore or something. Everyone knows who she is, who she works for, what her politics are. What the hell is the point of pretending otherwise???

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

I mean, kinda. Trump was really bad with this. Obama's team had a few cases as well. It's a broad law that hasn't been enforced in any meaningful capacity for a long time.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

The fact that "we" are supporting that loon McAuliffe is the least newsworthy thing that happened that day.

Not even worthy of a wrist slap.

[Lambsbread]

I'm on both sides of the fence here. I think it is reprehensible to say that any law Trump violated no longer applies to Biden--to say that the line no longer exists because it's been crossed sets an ugly precedent for future administrations. This was obviously a stupid thing for Psaki to do and I would prefer if government officials did not endorse candidates while working as a mouthpiece for the government as a matter of good form, but on the other hand...this is a silly thing to get riled up about and any Trumpist who is genuinely upset about this is doing nothing more than projection.