Trump says he won't fire White House counselor Kellyanne Conway over Hatch Act violations
Source: Washington Post
President Trump said Friday that he will not fire White House counselor Kellyanne Conway for repeated violations of the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from engaging in political activity in the course of their work. “Well I got briefed on it yesterday, and it looks to me like they’re trying to take away her right to free speech,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News.
His comments came a day after the Office of Special Counsel publicly recommended Conway’s removal from federal office, calling her a “repeat offender.”
A report submitted to Trump found that Conway violated the Hatch Act on numerous occasions by “disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in her official capacity during television interviews and on social media.”
“No, I’m not going to fire her,” Trump said. “She’s just a great person. .?.?. She’s got to have a right of responding to questions.”
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-says-he-wont-fire-kellyanne-conway-over-hatch-act-violations/2019/06/14/76f31a94-8e9f-11e9-adf3-f70f78c156e8_story.html
Original article -
“Well, I got briefed on it yesterday, and it looks to me like they’re trying to take away her right to free speech,” President Trump said during an interview on Fox News Channel.
A report submitted to Trump found that Conway violated the Hatch Act on numerous occasions by “disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in her official capacity during television interviews and on social media.”
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2019/06/14/trump-says-he-wont-fire-white-house-counselor-kellyanne-conway-over-hatch-act-violations/?utm_term=.4458f90ff9b3&wpisrc=al_politics__alert-politics&wpmk=1
There is a law. It's called the "Hatch Act". I (as a former fed) had to follow it and we had to have mandatory training every year about it. The fear of punishment/removal was so ingrained in us that for years, I was afraid to attend any political function or even have a yard sign or bumper sticker. It was that bad. It was something that became law the 2nd Roosevelt term in 1939 spearheaded by Carl Hatch (no relation to Orin Hatch), and was revised over time as circumstances/technology changed.
Here is a recent Congressional Research Service paper on it - https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44469.pdf (PDF)
= new reply since forum marked as read
I'm so sick of this lawless, dishonest, immoral, amoral, corrupt regime.
The very presence of this mob in the White House and executive branch debases not only the presidency, and our international reputation, but also corrupts the honorable and essential tradition of dedicated, nonpartisan civil service upon which a functioning, efficient, fair-minded government depends.
Their website is either half-broken or getting hammered but see this -
After investigating an alleged Hatch Act violation, OSC may seek disciplinary action against an employee before the Merit Systems Protection Board. When violations are not sufficiently egregious to warrant prosecution, OSC may issue a warning letter to the employee involved.
https://osc.gov/Pages/HatchAct-HowToFile.aspx
I think usually what happens is that if a complaint is filed and the OSC does an investigation and provides their recommendation, they probably will defer to a Department/agency to mete out any punishment/disciplanary actions (e.g., there is usually a successive series of steps including informal warnings, formal (written warnings), before going with something like a suspension or firing). I expect that if the Department/Agency does nothing, OSC can act to do this themselves. However in the above excerpt, appointees are not covered by the Merit Systems Protection Board for adjudication -
No. The employees and others (e.g., applicants for employment, annuitants in retirement cases) who may appeal specific actions to the Board vary in accordance with the law and regulations governing those actions. In some cases, classes of employees, such as political appointees, are excluded. Employees of specific agencies are excluded with respect to certain actions.
https://www.mspb.gov/appeals/appellantqanda.htm
(bolding mine)
Meaning there is apparently a loophole here for appointees which I think is why this is going to happen (found quoted at dKos) -
Link to tweet
TEXT
Lisa Hagen @LA_Hagen
New: Cummings announces that the House Oversight Committee will hold a hearing on June 26 w/ the Office of Special Counsel about its recommendation for WH counselor Kellyanne Conway to be removed re: Hatch Act violations. He is also inviting Conway.https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2019-06-13/federal-watchdog-recommends-kellyanne-conways-removal-for-hatch-act-violations …
3:00 PM - Jun 13, 2019
Here is the official announcement from the House Oversight Committee (chaired by Elijah Cummings) -
Link to tweet
TEXT
Oversight Committee
✔
@OversightDems
Hearing Alert: Chairman @RepCummings announces hearing with the Office of Special Counsel after it recommended that #PresidentTrump remove #KellyanneConway from the White House.
Read the full release here: https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/cummings-issues-statement-after-osc-recommends-that-president-trump-remove …
6:12 PM - Jun 13, 2019
This means that they will probably attempt to amend the law (last amendments occurred in 1993 - which I remember) to deal with this sort of situation which has never happened to this degree before (most are shamed into publicly promising never to do it again and they didn't... or they offer to resign or the President metes out some sort of discipline - there were some cases regarding Sebelius and Castro under Obama which never rose to the level of Conway's intransigence).
This country at one time had Presidents who respected the "system" but no more.
It's literally knee-jerk dismissive "decision-making to get out of the jam-of-the-moment", with absolutely no consideration as to the long-term effects or consequences.
It's like me standing with a torch in an area of a room with flammable materials that is roped off and separated from the rest of the room, and rather than try to extinguish the torch, I throw it over to another part of the room that has stacks of paper files. 
How her marriage to George Conway is going these days
