White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain's tweets are often a sight to behold due to their hilarious spin. His Twitter habits, though, look to have caught up with him. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel on Wednesday sent a letter indicating that Klain violated the Hatch Act when earlier this year, he retweeted Strike PAC, which aims to elect Democrats, from his official account.
As fun as it is to dunk on Ron Klain’s tweets, it turns out his habits of spin and promotion led to a Hatch Act violation! Though there was a screenshot, the retweet in question was later deleted, thus Special Counsel is not pursuing disciplinary action. pic.twitter.com/1buOAIGnxb
— Rebecca Downs (@RebeccaRoseGold) October 27, 2022
— STRIKE PAC 🗽 (@StrikePac) May 22, 2022
Noting the retweet, American First Legal (AFL) June 1 sent a request for the Special Counsel to investigate, which prompted the investigation and release of the letter. As a press release of theirs explains, with original emphasis:
The Hatch Act prohibits government employees from using their official authority or influence for electioneering or partisan political purposes. The Act further prohibits executive branch officials and employees from knowingly soliciting political contributions from any person. According to the OSC’s guidance, executive branch officials “may not use a social media account designated for official purposes to post or share messages directed at the success or failure of a political party, candidate in a partisan race, or partisan political group.”
The letter from Ana Galindo-Marrone, the chief of the Hatch Act Unit, makes clear that an "employee would violate these prohibitions while using social media by, for example, engaging in political activity on an official account or liking, sharing, or retweeting a post that solicits political contributions," as Klain did.
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In addition to the political nature of the tweet in question, Strike PAC's Twitter bio communicates a clear political preference. "Creating winning Democratic messaging & branding. Democrats Deliver. THIS.NOT THIS. Pro-democracy. Female-founded. Good trouble," the bio reads. Their Twitter page also urges people to donate to them via Act Blue.
Galindo-Marone's letter has more as well:
Strike PAC is a partisan political group, and according to its website, it “supports campaign finance reform and will help elect Democrats who support these vital policies.” It also has a “nationalized strategy” aimed at promoting the Democratic Party by “tell[ing] stories of how Democrats deliver on their promises to improve the lives of voters.” In this vein, Strike PAC’s message thanking President Biden served to further the group’s nationalized strategy of promoting Democrats as the party that delivers on its promises to voters. By retweeting this message, Mr. Klain used his official Twitter account to promote a partisan political group’s interests and, therefore, OSC has concluded that he violated the Hatch Act’s use of official authority prohibition.
In addition, Strike PAC’s tweet constituted a solicitation for political contributions because it encouraged others to buy the group’s merchandise. A political contribution is defined as any gift, subscription, loan, advance, or deposit of money or anything of value, made for any political purpose (i.e., to promote or oppose a partisan political group).4 The sale of Strike PAC’s merchandise supports the group’s objective of electing Democrats, and so the purchase price is a political contribution for purposes of the Hatch Act. Thus, Strike PAC’s tweet solicited political contributions, and because Mr. Klain retweeted this message, he also violated the Hatch Act’s solicitation prohibition.
As the AFL press release also highlights, Klain's violation reeks of hypocrisy:
During President Donald Trump’s Administration, Klain tweeted in Feb. 2018 that “using your WH title in a press release advocating the President’s reelection is ILLEGAL.” It is clear Klain is well familiar with the Hatch Act and its restrictions, including the proper use of official government social media accounts.That he would use the pulpit of the White House to push partisan political activity on social media, including hawking merchandise for a partisan PAC, is troubling.
The tweet in question from Klain's personal account is still up.
Pork isn't kosher. Using your WH title in a press release advocating the President's reelection is ILLEGAL. https://t.co/DCRXItZ4k3
— Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) February 27, 2018
Because Klain deleted the retweet once he was informed of the violation, he will not face disciplinary action and the matter is closed, the letter indicated in its conclusion. If Klain engages in such activity in the future, though, "OSC would consider such activity to be a willful and knowing violation of the law that could result in disciplinary action."
"Hatch Act" has been trending over Twitter on Thursday as a result of Klain's violation.
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