Top Trump Administration officials have taken to the campaign trail to boost Republican candidates ahead of the pivotal midterm elections as the party battles to retain control of Congress.
asserted
party → take → Congress
Last month alone, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum appeared alongside President Donald Trump to support Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan in his tight reelection fight against Democrat Mary Peltola at a rally in Wasilla, Alaska, on Oct. 13.
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Lutnick → appear → Oct.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared in Wisconsin alongside GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden on Oct. 20 to speak to manufacturing workers during a Pentagon tour highlighting U.S. defense production.
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Hegseth → appear → production
Last Monday, Vice President JD Vance and Burgum spoke at a rally in Topeka, Kansas.
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Vance → speak → Topeka
And on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefly joined Trump on stage, at the President’s urging, during a rally in Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Rubio → join → Christi
Cabinet members and other leading Trump officials have been wading into the midterms in these and other ways for months.
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members → lead → months
In August, for instance, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy endorsed Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers in Michigan.
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Duffy → endorse → Michigan
Legal experts and advocacy groups contend that in making such moves, members of the Administration have violated a decades-old law: the Hatch Act, passed by Congress in 1939, which places restrictions on certain political activities for federal executive branch employees.
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which → contend → employees
The Administration has argued that the officials have participated in political events in a strictly personal capacity, which is permitted under the Hatch Act, and that their actions have been cleared by lawyers and ethics officials.
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actions → argue → lawyers
But several top Trump aides—including at least nine of his 15 Cabinet secretaries—have been hit with formal complaints that their actions have violated the law.
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actions → include → law
“The number of Hatch Act violation complaints is extreme and abnormal for election time, especially for complaints against senior officials,” Kedric Payne, the head of ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, a legal non-profit that has filed a complaint against the Trump Administration for using taxpayer money to fund political ads, tells TIME.
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that → file → TIME
“We are seeing with the Trump Administration why the Hatch Act is so important,” Payne says, “because when it is not enforced quickly, it can be abused.”
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it → see → Administration
Here’s what to know about the Hatch Act, and the accusations that Trump officials have violated it.
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officials → ’ → it
The Hatch Act is an 87-year-old federal law that prohibits certain government employees from using their “official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election,” among other limits it imposes on officials’ political activity.
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it → prohibit → activity
It states that such interference applies to “an activity directed toward the success or failure of a political party” or candidate.
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interference → state → party
The law was established to ensure that “federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion, to protect federal employees from political coercion in the workplace, and to ensure that federal employees are advanced based on merit and not based on political affiliation,” according to the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), which enforces it.
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which → establish → it
Many of the Hatch Act complaints against Trump officials on the campaign trail have centered around one specific aspect of the law that says federal employees cannot use or identify with their official title while engaging in political activity.
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employees → center → activity
In a handful of such complaints against members of the Administration, legal and press advocacy groups have pointed out that they were introduced at rallies by their Cabinet positions.
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they → point → positions
“Political activity must be conducted purely in your personal capacity, without using your official title, without implying endorsement of the United States government.
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activity → conduct → government
In your personal time at your own personal expense,” Richard Painter, the former chief White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush and a professor at the University of Minnesota law school, tells TIME.
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Painter → tell → TIME
The Trump Administration has pushed back on the accusations, saying that its members were acting in a personal capacity at the times in question.
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members → push → question
How Trump Administration officials have been accused of violating the Hatch Act on the campaign trail
A number of complaints have been filed against the Trump Administration for violating the Hatch Act in recent months.
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number → accuse → months
Two advocacy non-profits, The Democracy Defenders Fund and Reporters Without Borders, filed a complaint in October over the rally in Alaska that featured Trump, Lutnick, Burgum, and Carr.
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that → file → Trump
The groups claimed that Carr “impermissibly mixed his official work into his personal remarks” and requested that the OSC open an investigation into each Trump official’s conduct at the rally.
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OSC → claim → rally
In September, the two advocacy groups also filed a complaint against Duffy for his appearance in Michigan and his endorsement of Rogers.
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groups → file → Rogers
Chief Counsel at the Democracy Defenders Fund said in a statement that Duffy’s conduct “crossed the legal and ethical line” and more broadly stated that it was “part of a broader pattern of this administration playing fast and loose with the law.”
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administration → say → law
Spokespeople for the Interior and Transportation departments have denied wrongdoing on the part of their respective leaders to media outlets.
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Spokespeople → deny → outlets
The FCC and Commerce Department did not immediately respond to TIME’s request for comment.
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FCC → respond → comment
These complaints are among many more that have been filed over Administration officials’ participation in campaign activities.
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that → file → activities
“We haven't seen since the first Trump Administration this number of complaints against officials, and I've lost track, but I do think it's well over 20 complaints just in recent weeks,” Payne says.
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Payne → see → weeks
In addition to complaints over officials’ appearances at campaign rallies, others have similarly alleged that Trump officials used their official titles in efforts to influence the midterms through social media and television network appearances.
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officials → allege → appearances
CREW, a nonprofit government watchdog organization, has made several such claims.
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CREW → make → claims
In one complaint from earlier this month, it argued that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller violated the Hatch Act during an interview on Fox News in which he spoke against specific Democratic candidates running for office and urged voters to support a “pro-American Trump agenda.”
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he → argue → agenda
The group has also filed complaints against Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel for comments made while speaking to Fox.
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group → file → Fox
“These accusations are baseless and amount to a manufactured political attack," the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.
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Department → amount → statement
"Secretary Kennedy takes his ethical obligations seriously, follows federal ethics laws, and consults HHS career ethics officials to ensure his activities comply with the standards governing public service.”
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activities → take → service
The Department of Department of Justice, which houses the FBI, did not immediately respond to TIME’s request for comment regarding the accusations against Patel.
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which → house → Patel
When asked about the various Hatch Act complaints against Administration officials, White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis tells TIME that “it has long been established that senior administration officials are allowed to discuss current events, policies, and the candidates involved with those policies in order to advance the agenda of the administration.”
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officials → ask → administration
Complaints allege further Hatch Act violations
Top Trump officials have additionally been accused of violating the Hatch Act through other means than direct statements and appearances in support of—or opposition to—midterm candidates that complaints allege may also affect the outcome of upcoming elections.
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complaints → allege → elections
Payne and his colleagues filed a complaint accusing several Administration officials of using taxpayer money for political ads which the complaint describes as “touting partisan and political rhetoric” to influence the outcome of the midterms.
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complaint → file → midterms
…and 26 more, not listed.
The Aporia
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