The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from engaging in most political activities in federal buildings or in the performance of their duties. While the president and vice president are exempt from the civil law provisions of the Hatch Act, federal employees like Pompeo, Wolf, and all executive branch employees who helped organize the events are not. In response to Trump`s comments, Senate Majority Leader John Thune asked CNN`s Manu Raju, “Is this even legal?” the No. 2 Republican in the Senate added: “I guess it`s not something you could do. I guess there are problems with the Hatch Act or whatever. The White House is a central backdrop for this week`s GOP convention. On Monday, Trump appeared in two pre-recorded videos filmed in the building, one in the East Room and the other in the diplomatic reception hall. And Jonathan Ladd, an associate professor of public policy and government at Georgetown University, said Trump was breaking with tradition by delivering his convention speech at the White House. “It`s remarkable how all the planning that has gone into the 2020 Convention is adapting to the changing dynamics of public health,” a former senior official in charge of planning GOP conventions told CBS News.

That`s crazy. Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez called the president`s proposal to deliver a political speech at the White House “ethically mind-blowing.” In an interview with MSNBC, Perez said, “That would be a no-start for any Democrat in the race. It`s so unethical. But there are no surprises. White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement that the convention events were planned and conducted by the campaign and the Republican National Committee. The Trump administration on Wednesday defended itself against widespread criticism that its staging and filming of White House events used as a program for the Republican convention was illegal — and rejected arguments that it violated the Hatch Act, a law designed to prevent the use of public power for private political gain. During the convention, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a speech from Jerusalem, in flagrant violation of State Department rules, and First Lady Melania Trump delivered a speech from the Rose Garden. Cases of election interference in Georgia. Fani T. Willis, the Atlanta District Attorney, has conducted a thorough criminal investigation into efforts by Mr. Trump and his allies to reverse his 2020 election defeat in Georgia. This case could pose the most immediate legal threat to the former president and his staff.

Kathleen Clark, professor of legal and government ethics at Washington University in St. The Louis School of Law said the event appeared to have been conceived as part of the convention, an action that would violate a criminal provision derived from the Hatch Act that prohibits executive branch employees from participating in politics in their official capacity. The Hatch Act, a civil administrative law, does not apply to the President and Vice-President. But the law applies to executive branch employees involved in planning or conducting political events at the White House, including video segments filmed there, experts said. Legal experts note that previous incumbents have curtailed political activity in the White House by holding political events in the president`s neighborhoods. “The reasonable position would be as risk-averse as possible,” John Holcomb, a professor of business ethics and law at the University of Denver, told CBS News. And if necessary, get rid of White House staff who may be legally vulnerable. The White House press corps was not briefed on the naturalization ceremony, which was not on the president`s public calendar.

Although the event was organized by the White House, the main purpose of the ceremony was for it to be broadcast as part of the convention, according to two advisers who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the plans. But the White House press office denied any violation of the Hatch Act. He argued that because the White House posted the videos on the YouTube channel, where it regularly posts videos of events, the Trump campaign was free to use this non-copyrighted, publicly available content for political purposes later that evening. “Nobody outside the Beltway really cares,” he told Politico. They expect Donald Trump to promote Republican values, and they would expect Barack Obama, when he was in office, to do the same for the Democrats. So listen, there`s a lot of noise being made about certain things, especially because Congress has been incredibly successful. The law aims to prevent public servants from using their power for partisan political activities.