{"id":1966224,"date":"2023-07-06T23:11:02","date_gmt":"2023-07-07T03:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-staffer-says-hatch-act-bars-him-from-taking-questions-about-cocaine-at-the-wh\/"},"modified":"2023-07-06T23:12:03","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T03:12:03","slug":"biden-staffer-says-hatch-act-bars-him-from-taking-questions-about-cocaine-at-the-wh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-staffer-says-hatch-act-bars-him-from-taking-questions-about-cocaine-at-the-wh\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden staffer claims Hatch Act prevents him from addressing cocaine questions at WH."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-staffer-says-hatch-act-bars-him-from-taking-questions-about-cocaine-at-the-wh%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1966224&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>White House Deputy Press Secretary Claims Hatch Act Bars Him from Addressing Cocaine Found in White House<\/h2>\n<p>White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates raised eyebrows on Thursday when he claimed that the Hatch Act barred him from answering any questions about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/oddsmakers-peg-hunter-biden-as-most-likely-cocaine-source\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cocaine<\/a> that was found in the White House over the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Bates, who fielded questions from reporters aboard Air Force One as they traveled with President Joe Biden to South Carolina, floated the Hatch Act as the reason he could not respond to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/reality-tv-can-serve-a-purpose-but-last-week-it-failed\/\" title=\"Reality TV Can Serve A Purpose, But Last Week, It Failed\">claims made<\/a> by former President Donald Trump \u2013 namely that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/white-house-shuts-down-multiple-questions-related-to-cocaine-incident\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cocaine<\/a> had belonged to either <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/former-secret-service-agent-dan-bongino-says-biden-family-member-brought-cocaine-to-white-house\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hunter Biden<\/a> or the president himself.<\/p>\n<h3>LISTEN:<\/h3>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">On claims &#8220;the cocaine found in the White House had belonged to either the president or his son. Are you willing to say that that&#8217;s not the case?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mid-level Biden staffer Andrew Bates: &#8220;I don&#8217;t have a response to that because we have to be careful about the Hatch Act&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/zuM30v5Fli\">pic.twitter.com\/zuM30v5Fli<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 RNC Research (@RNCResearch) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RNCResearch\/status\/1676979315563438083?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 6, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t have a response to that because we have to be careful about the Hatch Act,\u201d Bates said, going on to suggest that Trump was only making the accusations against the Biden\u2019s because he couldn\u2019t compete when it came to policy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat I will say is that I have noticed there does seem to be some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-refuses-to-say-cocaine-did-not-belong-to-biden-family-refuses-to-commit-to-transparency\/\" title=\"White House declines to deny Biden family's connection to cocaine, avoids transparency commitment.\">increasing frustration coming<\/a> from that corner in general and I think it is probably rooted in the contrast between their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-staffer-says-hatch-act-bars-him-from-taking-questions-about-cocaine-at-the-wh\/\" title=\"Biden staffer claims Hatch Act prevents him from addressing cocaine questions at WH.\">substantive policy record<\/a>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>But critics were not quite ready to buy the Hatch Act \u2014 which bars some Biden Administration employees from engaging in certain political activities \u2014 as a legitimate excuse for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-comms-team-gets-a-pass-where-trump-administration-would-have-had-a-scandal\/\" title=\"Biden Comms Team Gets A Pass Where Trump Administration Would Have Had A Scandal\">communications staffer<\/a> not taking questions about a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-view-hosts-test-positive-for-covid-19-mid-show-leave-stage-just-before-kamala-harris-interview\/\" title=\"WATCH: \u2018View\u2019 Hosts Test Positive For COVID-19 Mid-Show, Leave Stage Just Before Kamala Harris Interview\">major news story<\/a>, even if those questions were prompted by a political opponent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat famous Hatch Act provision which doesn\u2019t allow you to say White House cocaine doesn\u2019t belong to the president or his son,\u201d Jerry Dunleavy <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JerryDunleavy\/status\/1676998856918040578\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tweeted<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" aria-describedby=\"sk-tooltip-9096\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1688648178298000&#038;usg=AOvVaw10v0UGh9BJZV8inaPuI6t7\">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p>Doug Powers <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThePowersThatBe\/status\/1676999034043498511\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">added<\/a>, \u201cThis answer was worse than just screaming and running away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOdd that Bates pivots to the Hatch Act and doesn\u2019t deny the question \u2026\u201d Steve Guest <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SteveGuest\/status\/1676982258463387648\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">commented<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHatch Act: A weak deflection from the Occam\u2019s Razor answer: When drugs are found in a secure location, it\u2019s the degenerate junkie who is exempt from searches,\u201d Jim Hanson <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JimHansonDC\/status\/1677005338850074624\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe this case actually falls under the Crack Act,\u201d Brian Doherty tweeted.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I believe this case actually falls under the Crack Act<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Brian Doherty (@BDOH) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BDOH\/status\/1676992098753445895?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 6, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates caused surprise by asserting that the Hatch Act prevented him from addressing inquiries regarding the cocaine discovered at the White House. Bates, accompanying President Joe Biden on Air Force One, responded to reporters&#8217; questions during their travel, leaving many puzzled by his statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":1966225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1966224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1966224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1966224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1966224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1966225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1966224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1966224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1966224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}