Office of Special Counsel Report Documents Hatch Act Violations by 13 Senior Trump Officials, Finding "Willful Disregard" for Federal Law

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel released a comprehensive investigative report documenting that 13 senior Trump administration officials violated the Hatch Act prior to the 2020 election, with the violations characterized as demonstrating “willful disregard for the law” and occurring “without consequence and with the administration’s approval.” The report detailed systematic ethical violations across two main categories: eleven officials committed violations during official media appearances, and two officials violated the law in connection with the Republican National Convention’s unprecedented use of federal property and resources.

Background

The OSC investigation, launched after complaints from the House Oversight Committee and ethics watchdog organizations, examined political activities by senior Trump administration officials during the 2020 presidential election. The comprehensive report identified violations by some of the most powerful members of Trump’s inner circle, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, and Senior Counselor Kellyanne Conway.

The violations fell into distinct patterns. Eleven officials used official media appearances and interviews to engage in prohibited political advocacy, attacking Democratic candidates and promoting Trump’s reelection while speaking in their official capacities. These included Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, Senior Adviser Stephen Miller, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, White House Director of Strategic Communications Alyssah Farah, Deputy Press Secretary Brian Morgenstern, and Chief of Staff to Vice President Marc Short.

Two officials—Pompeo and Wolf—committed particularly egregious violations connected to the RNC. Pompeo violated the Hatch Act by first changing State Department policy specifically to permit his own convention participation, then delivering a speech from Jerusalem that repeatedly referenced State Department work. Wolf violated the law by presiding over a naturalization ceremony that was orchestrated explicitly to create content for the convention, using his official DHS authority to produce campaign material.

The OSC found that while hosting the RNC at the White House did not itself violate the Hatch Act due to the president’s exemption, the systematic use of government officials, resources, and events for campaign purposes clearly violated federal law. The report documented that these violations occurred with the full knowledge and approval of the administration’s senior leadership.

Significance

The OSC report provided official government documentation of the most systematic abuse of federal office for partisan political purposes in modern American history. The finding of “willful disregard for the law” was particularly significant—these were not inadvertent mistakes or technical violations, but deliberate choices by senior officials to subordinate their legal obligations to campaign objectives.

The report’s conclusion that “discipline is no longer possible since the officials are out of office” highlighted the Hatch Act’s fundamental enforcement problem. Without independent authority to impose sanctions, the OSC could only issue findings and recommendations. When a president refused to discipline violators and violations weren’t discovered until after officials left office, the law became entirely toothless.

The breadth of violations—13 senior officials including Cabinet secretaries, White House senior staff, and top advisers—demonstrated that lawbreaking was administration policy rather than individual misconduct. When a White House Chief of Staff, the Secretary of State, a National Security Adviser, and senior presidential advisers all violated the same ethics law with impunity, it reflected systematic corruption of government institutions.

The OSC’s documentation served an important historical purpose even without immediate accountability. The report created an official record that these violations occurred, preserving the institutional memory of how badly democratic norms and federal ethics laws were degraded. This record provided a factual foundation for future reforms and demonstrated the urgent need for Hatch Act enforcement mechanisms that don’t depend entirely on presidential cooperation.

The case of Kellyanne Conway was particularly striking: the OSC had recommended her removal in June 2019 for egregious violations, Trump refused to act, and Conway continued violating the law through the 2020 election—ultimately being one of 13 officials documented in this final report. This progression from ignored recommendation to continued violations to post-hoc documentation without consequences perfectly illustrated the complete collapse of ethics enforcement during the Trump administration.

The report’s release in November 2021, nearly a year after Trump left office, meant it had no practical impact on the officials involved but served as a comprehensive accounting of how thoroughly the administration had corrupted federal institutions and subordinated government operations to partisan political objectives in violation of federal law.