Oversight Committee Schedules Hearing On Conway’s Hatch Act Violations

The Trump administration is refusing to act on Kellyanne Conway’s constant lawbreaking, and a House committee chairman has had enough.

The Office of Special Counsel (OSC), which is headed by a Trump appointee, announced Thursday that Conway repeatedly violated the Hatch Act, a law prohibiting certain federal employees from “engaging in partisan political activity” while in their official government capacity, and recommended she be fired. The OSC cited more than half a dozen television interviews Conway had given as examples of her violating the law.

However, the White House isn’t budging and dismissed the idea that she would be punished. But Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-M.D.,) the chairman of the Oversight and Reform Committee, announced late Thursday that Conway is not off the hook, and scheduled a hearing with the OSC.

“Complying with the law is not optional,” Cummings said in a statement. “Allowing Ms. Conway to continue her position of trust at the White House would demonstrate that the President is not interested in following the law—or requiring his closest aides to do so.”

The hearing is set for June 26, and Conway’s attendance was requested so she may “answer for her violations.”

Given her attitude toward previous violations, and disregard for federal law, she’s unlikely to attend willingly.

In May, Conway dismissed reporters who pointed out that she violated federal law with her attacks on former Vice President Joe Biden, a presidential candidate. “If you’re trying to silence me through the Hatch Act, it’s not going to work,” she said, adding, “let me know when the jail sentence starts.”

Cummings also hit Conway on her other ethical issues, including her lack of cooperation with congressional probes. Conway has refused to comply with the committee’s request for information regarding her use of taxpayer funded private jets and her legally mandated report on the administration’s drug control strategy, which she is spearheading.

Even with a congressional probe of her violations, the decision whether to fire Conway still rests Trump, and he probably has no intention of letting her go.

Published with permission of The American Independent. 

IMAGE: Counselor to U.S. President Donald Trump, Kellyanne Conway prepares to go on the air in front of the White House, January 22, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria