A prominent outside government ethics watchdog has filed an ethics complaint claiming White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki violated the Hatch Act when she talked up former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe from the White House podium.
Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington, an ethics group that regularly hounded the Trump administration when multiple officials talked politics or promoted merchandise from the White House grounds, announced the complaint a day after Psaki's comments.
She had been asked whether the tight Virginia governor's race, just a few weeks out, would be a bellwether for Biden.
'We're going to do everything we can to help former Governor McAuliffe, and we believe in the agenda he's representing,' she said at the end of her comments.
'Well, I have to be a little careful about how much political analysis I do from here,' Psaki said Wednesday before commenting on the Virginia governor's race. An ethics group says she appears to have given an 'endorsement' from the podium
According to CREW's complaint, 'That appears to be an endorsement of his candidacy. The Hatch Act prohibits executive branch employees from 'us[ing their] official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election.'
It notes that 'political activity' is defined as 'an activity directed toward the success or failure of a political party, candidate for partisan political office, or partisan political group.'
Ironically Psaki prefaced her remarks with a hedge – indicating she sought to avoid using problematic language. Administration officials are schooled in the law when they sign on, and Psaki served in the Obama White House.
'Well, I have to be a little careful about how much political analysis I do from here and not (inaudible) into that too much,' she said, according to the White House transcript.
