White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro Violates Hatch Act; Has President Trump?

The Office of Special Counsel found that White House trade advisor Peter Navarro violated the Hatch Act on multiple occasions and ultimately interfered with the 2020 presidential election.

Most notably, the Hatch Act ensures “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.​​​​ ​”

The report declares that Navarro violated the Act through media appearances and social media.

“OSC’s investigation determined that Dr. Navarro violated the Hatch Act’s prohibition against using his official authority or influence to affect an election by engaging in political activity during official media appearances and on his official Twitter account,” the OSC report read.

“Dr. Navarro repeatedly attacked presidential candidate Joe Biden and/or vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Dr. Navarro often attacked Mr. Biden about his relationship with China and at times accused him of being 'compromised' and susceptible to being 'bought' by China, even nicknaming him 'Beijing Biden.' Dr. Navarro also argued that a Biden presidency would be devastating to the U.S. economy, and he disparaged vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris, calling her a mouthpiece who cannot be taken seriously,” the report added.

This isn’t the first time Trump officials violated the Hatch Act. Kellyanne Conway, the Counselor to the President, violated the Hatch Act on multiple occasions as well and the OSC recommended removing Conway from her position. Conway violated the act by “disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in her official capacity during television interviews and on social media.”

President Trump also previously came under fire for potentially violating the Hatch Act.

Though the president and vice president are technically exempt from the civil provisions of the Hatch Act, it's heavily frowned upon to use political establishments for personal gain.

Trump notably accepted the Republican Party's nomination on the White House lawn.