Joe Biden’s snarky chief of staff Ron Klain got a slap on the wrist for violating the Hatch Act, which forbids government officials from using their official positions to campaign.
Ron Klain was found to have broken the law by retweeting a message that urged people to support Democrats, the New York Post reported.
Biden chief of staff broke the law
The offending tweet was from a Democrat-aligned group, Strike PAC, that praised Joe Biden’s response to the baby formula crisis while asking people to buy the group’s “Democrats Deliver” merchandise. The tweet included a link to the group’s online store.
“Operation Fly Formula delivers 70,000 pounds of infant formula for American mothers and their infants. Thank you @POTUS,” the tweet read.
The Office of Special Counsel found that Klain violated the Hatch Act by promoting Strike PAC’s partisan message and merchandise, which it sells to raise money for its political activities.
Klain — an active Twitter user who is known for smug, elitist messaging — was let off with a warning after he deleted the retweet, which was flagged by the pro-Trump group America First Legal.
“Mr. Klain has been warned that if in the future he engages in activity prohibited by the Hatch Act while employed in a covered position, OSC would consider such activity to be a willful and knowing violation of the law that could result in disciplinary action,” a letter from the OSC said.
Pattern of misbehavior
Klain’s misconduct is a relatively minor offense compared to some of the audacious actions the administration has taken in the pursuit of its political interests — from illegally cancelling billions of dollars in student loan debt, to making political use of the nation’s strategic oil reserves.
Still, Biden and his staff have sought to portray themselves as ethical in contrast to the Trump administration.
Karine Jean-Pierre, known for lobbing partisan bombs from the briefing room podium, recently bragged that unlike the Trump White House, “we do respect the Hatch Act.”
Jean-Pierre defended President Biden’s decision to attack his political opponents as a threat to “democracy” in a dark, draconian rant that was widely criticized as divisive and inappropriate.
Biden used Marines as props for the speech, which was billed as official government business.