Biden reelection bid tests White House’s anti-campaigning will
- July 7, 2023
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has been notorious for citing a 1939 law prohibiting overt electioneering by federal employees when declining to answer reporters’ questions at briefings. Then last month, she received a letter saying she had violated it.
President Joe Biden’s top spokeswoman made comments about “mega MAGA Republican officials who don’t believe in the rule of law” before last year’s midterm elections, and the Office of Special Counsel concluded she “violated the Hatch Act prohibition against using her official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election.”
Biden’s team has taken pride in trying to follow the Hatch Act scrupulously, they say, especially in contrast with former President Donald Trump’s White House. The Official of Special Counsel found that over a dozen Trump officials committed numerous “flagrant and unpunished violations” of the law.