Barely a week after the Office of the Special Counsel (OSC) recommended the removal of presidential advisor Kellyanne Conway over Hatch Act violations, advisor and eldest daughter of President Donald Trump—Ivanka Trump—may soon have to grapple with Hatch Act violations of her own.
The Hatch Act forbids executive branch officials from engaging in political activity or campaigns while employed, with the exception of the President and Vice President.
According to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Ivanka Trump violated the Hatch Act with the below tweet:
"Trump likely violated the Hatch Act when she used her @IvankaTrump Twitter account to tweet a message promoting Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign announcement, including a picture featuring the campaign slogan, 'Make America Great Again,' and stating 'the best is yet to come' two days before he planned to announce his 2020 campaign," CREW wrote in a statement, noting that until March 2018, Ms. Trump had used the Twitter account primarily to document official government business. "OSC has explicitly prohibited federal officials from using social media accounts that they use for government business to reference Trump campaign slogans or promote materials from the campaign."
CREW director Noah Bookbinder criticized the White House for the repeated violations.
“It has become clear that this rampant abuse of public office is not a problem of ‘one bad apple’ but rather a key feature of the Trump White House. By blatantly using her office for politics right after the Office of Special Counsel recommended her colleague be fired for repeatedly acting similarly, Ivanka Trump has basically thumbed her nose at the OSC and the rule of law. Never before have we witnessed this level of illegal politicized behavior, and it must not be allowed to continue.”
Users on Twitter felt the same.
People have a theory why the Trump administration commits so many ethics violations.
We'll see if something changes.
@jaketapoer/Bluesky
@BillAckman/Twitter