White House counselor Kellyanne Conway refused to say Thursday if President Trump had decided to penalize her after a federal government watchdog agency determined she had twice violated the Hatch Act during the hotly contested Alabama U.S. Senate seat special election.
“The president and I have spoken about this. I’ve not made a comment on this at all, and I won’t today,” Conway told Fox News’ Bill Hemmer.
Hemmer then pressed Conway on whether that meant Trump would not hand down a punishment for comments Conway made during two television interviews that appeared to advocate for Republican candidate Roy Moore over Democratic contender Doug Jones in 2017.
“I didn’t say that,” Conway replied.
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel announced Tuesday it had sent an investigative report to Trump for his “consideration of appropriate disciplinary action” as Conway had made the remarks in her official capacity as a Trump aide.
“Miss Conway’s statements during the ‘Fox and Friends’ and ‘New Day’ interviews impermissibly mixed official government business with political views about candidates in the Alabama special election for U.S. Senate,” the Office of Special Counsel said in its report.
The White House defended Conway and disagreed with the Office of Special Counsel’s findings in a statement issued Tuesday.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders also reiterated the Trump administration’s support of Conway during a briefing Wednesday.
“The White House has spoken, the White House counsel’s office and the White House yesterday,” Conway added Thursday. “I won’t reveal my private conversations with the president about anything except that which he would like me to speak about publicly.”
The Hatch Act prohibits government employees from using their official positions to campaign for or against political candidates.
It is not unusual for presidents to elect not to reprimand staffers for Hatch Act infringements.
