{"id":18678,"date":"2018-12-03T21:17:57","date_gmt":"2018-12-03T21:17:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/12\/03\/white-house-officials-found-in-violation-of-political-activity-rules\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:45:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:45:44","slug":"white-house-officials-found-in-violation-of-political-activity-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/federal-oversight\/watchdogs\/2018\/12\/03\/white-house-officials-found-in-violation-of-political-activity-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"White House officials found in violation of political activity rules"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Six members of the White House Executive Office of the President violated regulations against government employee political activity, according to a Nov. 30 Office of Special Counsel finding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a government ethics nonprofit, notified the OSC Aug. 10 that they believed 10 employees violated rules laid down in the Hatch Act, which prohibits employees of the federal government from engaging in political activity while at the office, during work hours or acting in their official capacity as federal employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The OSC found evidence to support Hatch Act violations in the six of the 10 cases, which all had to do with statements made on official Twitter accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the OSC, the following employees all violated Hatch Act rules by tweeting or retweeting #MAGA or Republican Party research: Madeleine Westerhout, executive assistant to the president; Alyssa Farah, press secretary for the vice president; Jacob Wood, deputy communications director for the Office of Management and Budget; Raj Shah, White House principal deputy press secretary; Jessica Ditto, White House deputy director of communications; and Helen Aguirre Ferr\u00e9, then special assistant to the president and director of media affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\t