Kellyanne Conjob, America’s Favorite Goebbles in Pink, was referred by the Office of Special Counsel to be disciplined for two violations of the Hatch Act, and instead of actually do the right, moral, legal or correct thing — the Trump White House followed their natural instincts and thumbed their nose — or perhaps their middle-finger — at the rule of law.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) ruled that White House counselor Kellyanne Conway twice violated a federal law prohibiting federal officials from using their offices for partisan purposes. The incidents in question stem from Conway using national TV interviews to endorse the U.S. Senate candidacy of Roy Moore.
The OSC says it submitted its findings to President Trump “for appropriate disciplinary action.” But instead of disciplining Conway — or even condemning her comments, for that matter — the White House released a statement expressing contempt for the idea that the rules apply to them in the first place.
“Kellyanne Conway did not advocate for or against the election of any particular candidate,” the White House statement, attributed to deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley, says. “She simply expressed the President’s obvious position that he have [sic] people in the House and Senate who support his agenda.”
[Spittake!!!!]
They did what? Giminy Christmas these people are corrupt. I mean after the all day all night all dancing pile of bat guano interviews we say yesterday with Sam Nutberg — the guy who tried to teach Trump the Constitution and then gave up at the 4th Amendment because his eyes were rolling back into his head — only to have him today finally “ok, alright, I’ll go talk to the Grand Jury”, [FACEPALM!!!] we now have this steaming firepie on our front porch?
And this issue isn’t new it came up right when it happened the first time as discussed here the Obama’s former Ethic Chief, Norm Eisen.
Again her comments about the Roy Moore race was the second time this happened, after the first time when she personally promoted Ivanka’s sweatshop tchotchkies in Nordstroms she was censured by the Office Government Ethics.
Kellyanne Conway was ‘counseled’ against encouraging Americans to ignore a boycott of Ivanka Trump’s products and to buy the first daughter’s “stuff,” as she did in an interview with “Fox & Friends” Thursday morning, CNN reported.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that Conway has been “counseled on that subject, and that’s it.” He did not elaborate.
The remarks by Conway prompted immediate concerns among ethics lawyers and Democratic lawmakers that Conway had violated the executive branch’s ban on staff endorsing products or companies, according to Politico. The regulation, from the Office of Government Ethics, also prohibits staff from using public office for the private gain of themselves or of friends and relatives.
And what’s worse, Conway isn’t the first person in the Trump administration to be accused of this. It previously happen to Trump’s former Golf Caddy, who because “Social Media” Czar Dan Scavino was also reprimanded for it.
White House social media director Dan Scavino Jr. broke the federal law that prohibits members of the executive branch from engaging in some forms of political activity, the Office of Special Counsel said in a letter sent this week.
On April 1, 2017, Scavino tweeted that Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan was a "major liability." Amash, a libertarian Republican, had helped block a vote on legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act because he believed it left too much of Obama's signature health care law intact.
"#TrumpTrain, defeat him in primary," Scavino wrote from his personal handle, @DanScavino.
At the time of the tweet, the account displayed a photo of Scavino standing in the Oval Office, and his header photo displayed President Trump giving a speech behind a lectern with the presidential seal, according to watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
And then there was the thing with the White House Seals at a Trump Golf Club.
The Trump Organization said Tuesday that it has removed the presidential seal from tee markers at one of its golf courses after reports that the products may have violated federal law.
A spokesperson for the organization told ABC News that the plaques were temporary.
“The plaques were presented to the club by a small group of members, who are incredible fans of the President, in honor of Presidents Day weekend,” the spokesperson said. “They were temporary and have since been removed.”
“Temporary”. Yeah, right — I don't think the law has a minimum time frame on it.
Then you have Jared Kushner in the White House meeting with business leaders who then loans his families companies — which he still largely owns — [Say it like Dr. Evil from Austin Powers] $500 M I L L I O N D O L L A R S!
Joshua Harris, a founder of Apollo Global Management, was advising Trump administration officials on infrastructure policy. During that period, he met on multiple occasions with Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, said three people familiar with the meetings. Among other things, the two men discussed a possible White House job for Mr. Harris.
The job never materialized, but in November, Apollo lent $184 million to Mr. Kushner’s family real estate firm, Kushner Companies. The loan was to refinance the mortgage on a Chicago skyscraper.
Even by the standards of Apollo, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, the previously unreported transaction with the Kushners was a big deal: It was triple the size of the average property loan made by Apollo’s real estate lending arm, securities filings show.
It was one of the largest loans Kushner Companies received last year. An even larger loan came from Citigroup, which lent the firm and one of its partners $325 million to help finance a group of office buildings in Brooklyn.
The giant irony of all this is Hatch Act violations are exactly what Trump keeps accusing Obama of when he claims he “Wiretapped and Investigated my campaign in order to help Hillary Clinton.” Or when Devin Nunes says that “Clinton paid for a fake dossier to give to the FBI in order to smear the Trump campaign” — which makes no sense because the Obama didn't know anything about the Steele dossier until January — the same day that Trump found out — the FBI didn’t mention anything about the fact they were investigating members of the Trump campaign, but repeatedly mentioned that they were investigating Hillary Clinton even though that investigation showed absolutely no deliberate attempt to violate the law.
So apparently they know that Hatch Act Matters, it just doesn’t seem to matter — TO THEM.
Bojemoi!