Kellyanne Conway’s conduct in an interview on Monday from the White House lawn has caught the attention of ethics watchdogs.
Walter Shaub, the Office of Government ethics director until earlier this year, and Richard Painter, the ethics chief to George W. Bush, are crying foul over comments the Trump counselor made about Doug Jones, the Democrat running for the U.S. Senate against Roy Moore in Alabama.
Conway ripped Jones, a former U.S. attorney, as ‘weak’ on crime and ‘strong’ on raising taxes during an appearance on Fox & Friends after she was asked about the allegations against Moore that are sucking up oxygen in Washington.
This morning, Shaub said he filed a formal complaint against Conway through his current employer, the Campaign Legal Center.
Kellyanne Conway, a top adviser to the president, contended Monday that voters should not elect Doug Jones, the Alabama Democrat running against Roy Moore for the U.S. Senate, because he’ll try to raise their taxes
Kellyanne Conway’s conduct in an interview on Monday from the White House lawn has caught the attention of ethics watchdogs
Shaub said he submitted paperwork to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, asking that it investigate what he says was a violation of the Hatch Act.
The Hatch Act forbids executive branch employees from using their government titles when engaging in politics.
In the previous administration, the special counsel’s office issued a warning to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro after the Democrat pushed politics during a media interview he gave in his official capacity as a member of Barack Obama’s Cabinet.
Shaub shared a copy of the letter on Twitter as an example of comparable behavior that OSC had slapped down before.
‘She’s standing In front of the White House. It seems pretty clear she was appearing in her official capacity when she advocated against a candidate,’ he said Tuesday. ‘This is at least as clear a violation of 5 U.S.C. § 7323(a)(1) as OSC identified with regard to Castro. ‘
He challenged the Trump administration to punish Conway, saying, ‘This will be the first test of POTUS’s new head of the Office of Special Counsel. Will he hold Presidential appointees in this administration to the standard to which his predecessor held Presidential appointees in the last administration?’
In a Wednesday morning tweet, Shuab said he’d filed a complaint with OSC, that his organization, CLC, then seconded.
‘CLC has filed a Hatch Act complaint against Kellyanne Conway for using her official White House title to advocate for a political candidate,’ the non-partisan outfit said.
Conway would not endorse Moore’s candidacy directly. ‘I’m telling you that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through,’ she said on Fox & Friends
Painter chimed in Tuesday to say: ‘This is an official interview. She has violated the Hatch Act by using her position to take sides in a partisan election. That is a firing offense. And for her this is strike two.’
In a follow-up message, Painter, the vice chairman of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said that only the president and vice president are exempt from the Hatch Act.
‘Political endorsements have to be in personal capacity, not official capacity. E.g,. NOT on the White House lawn! Presumptive penalty for violation: “you’re fired.” ‘
Twenty minutes later he asked, ‘Why does Kellyanne have to ruin our Thanksgiving with a Hatch Act violation? Trump pardoned two turkeys yesterday. Looks like he should have pardoned a third.’
Conway, a top adviser to the president, contended Monday on Fox & Friends that voters should not elect Jones, because he’ll try to raise their taxes.
She did not and would not endorse Moore’s candidacy directly. ‘I’m telling you that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through,’ she said after program co-host Brian Kilmeade asked her if the message was ‘vote Roy Moore.’
Asked by Kilmeade a second time, she pivoted and said: ‘If the media were really concerned about all of these allegations, and if that’s what this is truly about, and the Democrats, Al Franken would be on the ash heap of bygone half-funny comedians. He wouldn’t be here on Capitol Hill. He still has his job.’
Asked by host Brian Kilmeade if the message was ‘vote Roy Moore,’ Conway said: ‘If the media were really concerned about all of these allegations, and if that’s what this is truly about, and the Democrats, Al Franken would be on the ash heap of bygone half-funny comedians’
Later, at a press briefing, a reporter asked press secretary Sarah Sanders if the White House’s position is that it is better to elect someone accused of sexually assaulting teenage girls over a Democrat. Sanders said that was not the White House’s position
Later, at a press briefing, a reporter asked press secretary Sarah Sanders if the White House’s position is that it is better to elect someone accused of sexually assaulting teenage girls over a Democrat.
Sanders said that was not the White House’s position, regardless of what Conway said.
‘We feel the people of Alabama should make the determination of who their next senator should be,’ she said, adding, after the reporter pushed back, ‘I’m giving you the answer, the position of the White House.’
Sanders refused to take a position on efforts to mount a write-in campaign for the position, making a similar claim about the right of the people to do decide, when DailyMail.com asked about Conway’s interview.
Asked if the president wants Moore to win the race, Sanders invoked the political rule that prohibits some employees in the executive branch from engaging in political activity while they’re on duty.
‘Look, obviously the president wants people within the House and the Senate who support his agenda, but as I’ve said and as the Hatch Act prohibits me from going any further,’ she said. ‘We certainly think this is something that the people of Alabama should decide, and I’m not going to be able to weigh in on anything further beyond those comments.’
On Fox & Friends, Conway deflected when she was asked about Moore, bringing up Al Franken and Sen. Bob Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat whose corruption case ended in a mistrial last week, and asked why he gets to return to Washington.
Conway also launched an assault on Jones in a shift away from the president’s statement a week prior, through Sanders, that the people of Alabama should decide who represents them.
‘He will be a vote against tax cuts,’ she said. ‘He is terrible for property owners.’
She told Alabama voters ‘don’t be fooled’ by Jones, deriding his record on crime and his position on the border.
‘So vote Roy Moore,’ Kilmeade asked her?
She replied: ‘Doug Jones is a doctrinaire liberal, which is why he is not saying anything, and why the media are trying to boost him.’
Kilmeade asked her the question again, and she brought up Franken, a Democrat representing Minnesota in the Senate who apologized last week for a photo in which he could be seen smiling and putting his hands over radio host Leeann Tweeden’s breasts while she slept.
He is now expected to come under investigation by the Senate ethics committee.
Kilmeade rebutted Conway with the Republican National Committee’s withdrawn support for Moore.
Many women are backing away from him, too, Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt chimed in.
‘Right,’ Conway responded. ‘And you know what, I just want everybody to know, Doug Jones, nobody ever says his name and pretends he is some kind of conservative Democrat in Alabama. And he’s not.’
Fox & Friends’ Steve Doocy interrupted Conway to ask if Trump would be traveling to Alabama to campaign for Moore, and she acknowledged, ‘There is no plan to do that.’
‘The president is going to continue traveling around the country on tax cuts and other issues, yes,’ she said.
Trump told reporters yesterday, as he broke his silence on the matter, that he could campaign for Moore.
‘Let me just tell you, Roy Moore denies it. That’s all I can say,’ Trump told reporters as he departed the White House to spend Thanksgiving with his family in Florida. ‘He denies it. And, by the way, he totally denies it.’