{"id":884044,"date":"2021-10-15T17:13:48","date_gmt":"2021-10-15T21:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=884044"},"modified":"2021-10-15T17:13:58","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T21:13:58","slug":"prominent-liberal-watchdog-group-files-hatch-act-complaint-against-jen-psaki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/prominent-liberal-watchdog-group-files-hatch-act-complaint-against-jen-psaki\/","title":{"rendered":"Prominent Liberal Watchdog Group Files Hatch Act Complaint Against Jen Psaki"},"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\">22<\/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%2Fprominent-liberal-watchdog-group-files-hatch-act-complaint-against-jen-psaki%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=884044&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--><div><\/div>\n<p>A prominent liberal watchdog group filed a Hatch Act complaint against White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Friday, saying her apparent endorsement of Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McCauliffe during a White House press briefing may have violated federal law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy mixing official government business with support of a candidate for partisan political office in the weeks before the election and engaging in political activity while on duty, Ms. Psaki appears to have used her official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election, political activity that is prohibited by law,\u201d Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) said in its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizensforethics.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/2021-10-15-Jen-Psaki.pdf\">complaint<\/a> filed with the Office of Special Counsel (OSC).<\/p>\n<p>Psaki said during her daily press briefing Thursday that \u201cwe\u2019re going to do everything we can to help former governor McAuliffe, and we believe in the agenda he\u2019s representing.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" readability=\"10.389937106918\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Another day, another possible Hatch Act violation from <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PressSec?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@presssec<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jrpsaki?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@jrpsaki<\/a><\/p>\n<p>PSAKI: \u201cAgain, we\u2019re going to do everything we can to help former governor McAuliffe, and we believe in the agenda he\u2019s representing.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7jGMPEha3j\">https:\/\/t.co\/7jGMPEha3j<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/196GDDLvae\">pic.twitter.com\/196GDDLvae<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Matthew Foldi (@MatthewFoldi) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MatthewFoldi\/status\/1448746178020057089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 14, 2021<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The upcoming Virginia gubernatorial election on Nov. 2 is being described as a national bellwether by forecasters. McAuliffe, a Democrat and former governor of the state, is neck and neck with his Republican opponent, Glenn Youngkin, <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/10\/13\/terry-mcauliffe-glenn-youngkin-close-race-vaccine-economy-driving-issues\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">according<\/a> to recent polls.<\/p>\n<p>The Hatch Act prohibits any executive branch employees from engaging in political activity in their official capacity, CREW said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizensforethics.org\/legal-action\/legal-complaints\/crew-files-hatch-act-complaint-against-psaki\/\">statement<\/a> Friday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy using her official position, authority, and title to advocate for the success of a candidates [sic] in a partisan election, Ms. Psaki appears to have run afoul of the statute,\u201d CREW wrote in its complaint. \u201cOSC should commence an immediate investigation into the conduct described in this letter and take any appropriate disciplinary action against Ms. Psaki.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>CREW added that Psaki\u2019s apparent Hatch Act violation is \u201cnowhere near as extreme\u201d as the violations committed by members of the Trump administration. The group said it filed numerous Hatch Act complaints against \u201can unprecedented number\u201d of Trump administration officials.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, OSC <a href=\"https:\/\/osc.gov\/News\/Pages\/19-10-Kellyanne-Conway-Hatch-Act.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recommended<\/a> that Kellyanne Conway, a former senior counselor to former President Donald Trump, be fired in May 2019 for violating the Hatch Act.&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2019\/06\/13\/kellyanne-conway-hatch-act-violations\/\">(RELATED: Federal Watchdog Recommends Kellyanne Conway Be Fired Over Hatch Act Violations)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Psaki\u2019s comments Thursday also drew the ire of former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who questioned on Twitter why the media had no interest in holding Psaki accountable for her potential Hatch Act violations.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" readability=\"11.261838440111\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Why does the media not hold <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PressSec?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@PressSec<\/a> accountable for potential Hatch Act violations? She has twice advocated for political candidates from the podium.<\/p>\n<p>There is no problem in engaging in First Amendment political activity, but it must be done separate and apart from the podium. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ICLldHRCgs\">https:\/\/t.co\/ICLldHRCgs<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kayleighmcenany\/status\/1448823554309513222?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 15, 2021<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact <a href=\"mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A prominent liberal watchdog group filed a Hatch Act complaint against White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Friday, saying her apparent endorsement of Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McCauliffe during &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-884044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884044","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=884044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=884044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=884044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=884044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}