Trump Team Rebuts Hatch Act Allegations, Cites Precedent

The Trump administration dismissed allegations from Democrats and a left-leaning watchdog group that it violated the Hatch Act by using government websites and emails to blame Democrats for the partial government shutdown.

“It’s an objective fact that Democrats are responsible for the government shutdown, the Trump administration is simply sharing the truth with the American people,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said Thursday in a statement to Newsmax.

The Hatch Act, enacted in 1939 and amended in 1993, is designed to ensure federal employees perform their duties impartially. It prohibits activities such as running for office, soliciting or receiving political contributions, and engaging in partisan political activity while on duty or in the federal workplace.

But Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has called on Acting Special Counsel Jamieson Greer to investigate the Trump administration’s alleged misuse of government resources to promote a partisan Republican agenda. The Office of Special Counsel, which Greer leads, is responsible for enforcing the Hatch Act.

“The Hatch Act imposes clear restrictions on the political activity of federal executive branch employees and does not allow activity ‘directed toward the success or failure of a political party, partisan political group, or candidate for partisan political office,’ ” Garcia wrote Thursday in a letter to Greer.

“Given the Trump administration’s blatant violation of the law, I request that the Office of Special Counsel immediately open an investigation into this clear misconduct, and for you to cooperate with our committee as we investigate this blatant misuse of taxpayer dollars for political purposes,” Garcia wrote.

Public Citizen, a left-leaning consumer advocacy group, filed complaints this week against the Small Business Administration and Department of Housing and Urban Development, accusing them of violating the Hatch Act by using partisan messaging regarding the shutdown.

The SBA has a message on the home page of its website that “Senate Democrats voted to block a clean federal funding bill (H.R. 5371), leading to a government shutdown that is preventing the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) from serving America’s 36 million small businesses. … As a result of the shutdown, we wanted to notify you that many of our services supporting small businesses are currently unavailable.”

On HUD’s home page, a message states: “The Radical Left in Congress shut down the government. HUD will use available resources to help Americans in need.”

But whether such instances are violations of the Hatch Act is up for debate. Lawyer Andrew Cherkasky, a former Air Force judge advocate general, told Fox News Digital on Thursday that “the Hatch Act does not apply to the president or vice president. It does apply to most other federal employees.”

“The law is intended to prohibit government officials from using their official authority to interfere with, or affect elections,” Cherkasky said. “The president of the United States and his agents under his authority have an unquestionable constitutional right to speak directly to the American people about what is happening in their government and who is responsible for it.”

The Biden and Obama administrations regularly blamed Republicans in official fact sheets, press releases, and statements. The Office of Special Counsel in the Biden administration ruled in September 2024 that former Education Secretary Miguel Cardona did not violate the Hatch Act by sending an email to federal student loan borrowers about court rulings affecting loan programs as a result of lawsuits brought by “Republican elected officials.”

“OSC has consistently advised that when discussing topics such as pending legislation or government policy, references to a political party, without more, typically do not constitute political activity under the Hatch Act,” the agency wrote in its advisory opinion in Cardona’s case.

Further, official Statements of Administration Policy and press releases by the Biden and Obama administrations routinely blamed Republicans for budget standoffs, shutdown threats, and social policy disputes.

Joe Biden’s White House accused “extreme MAGA House Republicans” of pushing cuts to Medicare, public safety, and child nutrition programs, and repeatedly warned of an “Extreme Republican Shutdown.” The Obama administration likewise issued formal policy statements charging that “House Republicans are pushing the government toward shutdown.”

Trump officials argued those examples show that partisan messaging from government channels has long been standard practice, not a violation of law.