Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, ran afoul of federal laws last year by expressing preferences for one candidate and against another in Alabama’s special Senate election, a federal investigator said in a report released on Tuesday.
In a report submitted to President Donald Trump, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel found that Conway violated the Hatch Act, which regulates campaigning by most executive branch employees. In a release that accompanied the report itself, the office said it was submitting its report to the president “for disciplinary action.”
The White House pushed back against the findings.
“Kellyanne Conway did not advocate for or against the election of any particular candidate,” deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said on Tuesday. “She simply expressed the president’s obvious position that he have people in the House and Senate who support his agenda. In fact, Kellyanne’s statements actually show her intention and desire to comply with the Hatch Act — as she twice declined to respond to the host’s specific invitation to encourage Alabamians to vote for the Republican.”
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/ ... ion-438760