President Trump Is Urged to Fire Kellyanne Conway for Hatch Act Violations

The Office of Special Counsel, an independent government agency, recommended that President Donald Trump fire Kellyanne Conway, his White House counselor, for repeated violations of an ethics law barring partisan politics from the federal workplace. At issue are Conway’s media appearances attacking Democrats running for their party’s nomination for president. The Office of Special Counsel concluded that she “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 agency called Conway a “repeat offender” of the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in campaign politics at work, saying that her flagrant defiance of the law justified her dismissal from the White House. “As a highly visible member of the administration, Ms. Conway’s violations, if left unpunished, send a message to all federal employees that they need not abide by the Hatch Act’s restrictions,” said Henry Kerner, the head of the agency, in a letter to president Trump. “Her actions erode the principal foundation of our democratic system — the rule of law.”

Despite its official mission, the Office of Special Counsel has no power to force Conway’s dismissal, and the White House quickly made clear that President Trump would not follow its suggestion.