That advice, which stated that the President and the Vice-President are not bound by any of the provisions of the Hatch Act, is limited to the civil provisions of the Hatch Act and has not found an opinion on criminal law provisions in title 18 of the U.S. Code, ”reads the previously unreported letter, which was sent to House Oversight President Carolyn Maloney.
A commission aide confirmed it was monitoring the RNC speech for possible violations, saying Trump and Pence – who are also expected to give their RNC speech on federal property – could face consequences if they intimidated “a federal employee”, threaten, command or coerce “in political activity, citing the criminal statute.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump confirmed Monday that he plans to deliver his acceptance speech on the fourth and final night of the convention from the White House, although some staff had urged him to choose another location. “We’re giving a real speech on Thursday – live from the White House,” he said in Oshkosh, Wis.
Democrats, and even some Republicans, have expressed concern that federal officials who would help Trump in the speech would essentially campaign for the president, a violation of the Hatch Act.
“For the President of the United States to relegate the White House, as he has repeatedly done, by saying that he will completely politicize it, is something that must be rejected out of hand,” House Speaker said Nancy Pelosi during an interview on MSNBC last week.
Democrats had asked the Office of Special Counsel for guidance on the speech. Federal employees have a growing number to gain complaints since Trump took office that they use their platform to campaign for the president as his allies.
In the initial of the office letter, officials wrote that although Trump was able to deliver the White House speech because he was exempt from the Hatch Act, there could be implications of the Hatch Act “for those employees, depending on their level of involvement in the event and their position in the White House. “In the follow-up letter on Monday, the bureau said it was forbidden to issue advisory advice on the criminal provisions of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, an apparent response to a commission question.
More than 300 Republican delegates will still attend collect in Charlotte, the official host city of RNC, on the first day to officially nominate Trump for president. But most other in-person activities will be held in Washington, DC, including some of the four nights of prime-time speeches. Trump abruptly last month canceled the incidents that were relocated to Jacksonville, Fla., when the state collapsed with a rise in infections.
Trump had also considered the Battlefield of the Civil War in Gettysburg, Pa., The site of the famous address of President Abraham Lincoln, for his speech, but it raised similar ethical questions.
First Lady Melania Trump is expected to deliver her speech at the White Garden Rose Garden, while Pence considers Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Md., Best known as the site of a major battle during the War of 1812.
