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WASHINGTON: The Office of the United States Special Counsel has opened an investigation into allegations that the Trump campaign’s use of the White House as a command center on Election Day violated federal law, it said Thursday ( Nov. 5) Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell.
In a statement, Pascrell said the federal watchdog responded to his call for an investigation on Thursday, telling him that a special unit “has opened an investigation into these allegations to determine whether the Hatch Act was violated.”
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President Donald Trump monitored the election results in the White House residence hall on Tuesday, then addressed some 200 supporters gathered in the East Room.
Pascrell had asked special counsel Henry Kerner to investigate reports that suggested Trump was using the space in the adjacent Eisenhower Executive Office building on the White House grounds as a campaign “war room.”
The New Jersey lawmaker said Trump was also expected to be briefed at the White House residence and the Oval Office throughout the day by campaign officials, which, he said, put executive branch officials at risk of violating. federal law.
The Hatch Act of 1939 limits the political activities of federal employees, except for the president and vice president.
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Pascrell said the special counsel’s office told him he was “not consulted (by the Trump campaign or the White House) on the decision to use the space within Eisenhower’s executive office building as a campaign ‘war room.’ “.
The agency launched an investigation last month of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s speech to the Republican National Convention in August, and last year recommended the firing of then-Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway for repeated violations.
Kerner is a Trump appointee who previously worked for Republican lawmakers in Congress. His office is an independent agency that enforces the Hatch Act. He is not related to the office of former US special counsel Robert Mueller.
