Politics - News Analysis

Kayleigh McEnany Accuses Jen Psaki of Violating the Hatch Act and No, We’re Not Joking

Who doesn’t remember the number of times that various ethical organizations referred members of the Trump administration for review of Hatch Act violations?

The Hatch Act was passed into law in 1939 and makes it illegal for federal employees to engage in political activities while on the job. If there was ever a law created for the Trump administration to break, it’s the Hatch Act because Trump never had any policy or agenda beyond promoting Trump. It was all politics. The president is exempt from the Hatch Act, but that didn’t mean that his entire operation wasn’t also 100% political.

Perhaps that is why Citizens for Ethics reports that in October 2020, “at least 16 Trump administration officials have violated the Hatch Act a total of more than 60 times, in an unprecedented and escalating assault on the rule of law and the democratic process.”

Additionally, as it is nearly impossible to forget, Kayleigh McEnany was also accused of “blurring lines between government and politics and violating longstanding norms, and, in many cases, the Hatch Act, which bans political activity in the federal workplace.”

And yet on Thursday, Kayleigh was set to make her stand:

“Why does the media not hold @PressSec accountable for potential Hatch Act violations? She has twice advocated for political candidates from the podium. There is no problem in engaging in First Amendment political activity, but it must be done separate and apart from the podium.

Remarkably, on this one, Kayleigh is likely correct! Jen Psaki really shouldn’t be talking about supporting a governor’s agenda and someone probably ought to make sure that those kinds of answers no longer come from the White House grounds, or – if they do, they should come from President Biden himself.

But criticism of Hatch Act violations coming from Kayleigh??? A Trump administration alum?

That is really rich.  Mary Trump may have had the absolute best response:

Others were right behind her:

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[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak

meet the author

Jason Miciak is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is originally from Canada but grew up in the Pacific Northwest. He now enjoys life as a single dad raising a ridiculously-loved young girl on the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He is very much the dreamy mystic, a day without learning is a day not lived. He is passionate about his flower pots and studies philosophical science, religion, and non-mathematical principles of theoretical physics. Dogs, pizza, and love are proof that God exists. "Above all else, love one another."

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