Leftists are pouncing on played-up allegations of misconduct against Kellyanne Conway to go after President Trump’s family as well.
A George Soros-funded “watchdog” filed a complaint with the Office of Special Counsel claiming that Ivanka Trump violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activity while on the job. The complaint comes days after the federal office called on Trump to fire Conway for similar violations.
Ivanka’s alleged offense involves her decision to post a Father’s Day tweet in support of the president. The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) cited the tweet, in which Ivanka praised her dad for making America “safer and more prosperous.”
“By blatantly using her office for politics right after the Office of Special Counsel recommended her colleague be fired for repeatedly acting similarly, Ivanka Trump has basically thumbed her nose at the OSC and the rule of law. Never before have we witnessed this level of illegal politicized behavior, and it must not be allowed to continue,” said CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder.
Pursuing Ivanka
The same group that lodged the complaint against Ms. Trump, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), is a far-left advocacy group that masquerades as a non-partisan “watchdog.” The group started a petition last week demanding Conway’s resignation after the Office of Special Counsel, not to be confused with Robert Mueller’s office, recommended that Trump fire his longtime adviser over repeated Hatch Act violations.
The left did not waste any time going after the Trump family after the OSC’s opinion against Conway. CREW lodged a complaint Thursday claiming that Ms. Trump has shared “multiple partisan political posts” on her Twitter account, including the Father’s Day tweet in which Ivanka said that “the best is yet to come” because of president Trump. The tweet, which came two days before Trump kicked off his re-election campaign in Orlando, Florida, featured a Trump “MAGA” banner.
CREW said that Ms. Trump’s tweet, coming after the OSC recommended Conway’s firing, showed a disrespect for the “rule of law.” The group blasted Ivanka’s tweets as “illegal, politicized behavior” that “must not be allowed to continue.”
“It has become clear that this rampant abuse of public office is not a problem of ‘one bad apple’ but rather a key feature of the Trump White House,” said CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder.
CREW is part of the advocacy network of Media Matters founder David Brock. Media Matters is known for pioneering a scorched-earth approach to political activism that targets conservative figures and groups with advertiser boycotts and slander. CREW has also received funding from billionaire George Soros.
Frivolous complaints
The complaint against Ms. Trump comes amid a wider push by the left to target Trump staffers using the momentum brought by the OSC’s opinion against Conway. Democrat Reps. Ted Lieu (CA) and Don Beyer (VA) asked the OSC to investigate whether Ivanka’s husband, Trump adviser Jared Kushner, violated the Hatch Act after reports emerged that he organized a fundraising huddle for the president’s re-election at the White House.
The OSC’s recommendation that Trump fire Conway marked the first time the office had ever advised the White House to fire a staffer over the Hatch Act. In a 17-page report, the office accused Conway of “disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in her official capacity during television interviews and on social media.”
“As a highly visible member of the administration, Ms. Conway’s violations, if left unpunished, would send a message to all federal employees that they need not abide by the Hatch Act’s restrictions,” special counsel Henry Kerner wrote. “Her actions thus erode the principal foundation of our democratic system — the rule of law.”
President Trump stood by Conway, saying she was exercising her free speech rights, and the White House accused the OSC of singling out Conway for political reasons. The OSC previously warned Conway in March of 2018 about comments she made regarding Roy Moore’s doomed Alabama Senate race. But Obama administration officials who violated the Hatch Act never faced calls for their firing, writes Jerry Dunleavey at the Washington Examiner.
Making frivolous complaints about Trump staffers is all in a day’s work for CREW, which has filed two complaints with the OSC about Conway’s political comments.
This is the left’s idea of corruption? Father’s day tweets? Meanwhile, they ignore the fact that the Obama administration spied on the Trump campaign. When it comes to this type of faux outrage, they can save it.
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