CRIME
Gov’t. Ethics Expert Goes Ballistic After Trump Campaign Sets Up ‘War Room’ in Taxpayer-Funded Federal Building
Former Director of the United States Office of Government Ethics Walter Shaub is going ballistic over news from The New York Times that the Trump re-election campaign has set up a “war room” inside a taxpayer-funded federal government office building. The move could possibly be a violation of federal law.
Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman broke the news on Election Day.
In a rare response, Shaub exploded on Twitter, attacking the head of the United States Office of Special Counsel, Henry Kerner, who is supposed to be investigating and prosecuting violations of federal law that occur inside the federal government.
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME WITH THIS, HENRY FUCKING KERNER?????? @US_OSC https://t.co/asJ5S4DeHe
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) November 3, 2020
The Eisenhower Executive Office Building is close to the White House. It’s not known where in the EEOB the “war room” has been set up. (Photo of Trump in EEOB’s Indian Treaty Room.)
Economist David Rothschild weighs in:
So. Fucking. Illegal. Make the “Hatch Act of 1939, An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities” Great Again. https://t.co/22KSkqmx1q
— David Rothschild (@DavMicRot) November 3, 2020
Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW):
The misuse of government resources to support the President’s re-election, potentially in violation of the law, continues even into Election Day. https://t.co/XGA6aBNAOE
— Noah Bookbinder (@NoahBookbinder) November 3, 2020
Former Senior Advisor to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and former Special Assistant to President Barack Obama:
I worked in this building for a good part of my adult life. If I had been caught doing this I would have been fired on the spot, because it would have been blatantly illegal, as I’d been trained on every six months by White House Counsel. https://t.co/vMM7yrHm3M
— Jesse Lee (@JesseCharlesLee) November 3, 2020
PrioritiesUSA Senior Strategist and Communications Director:
Ah yes, the taxpayer funded campaign war room https://t.co/P1lTsecKeH
— Josh Schwerin (@JoshSchwerin) November 3, 2020
Popular Information founder:
This seems illegal. https://t.co/kT9ZVfLfcP
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) November 3, 2020
UPDATE: 3:22 PM ET –
Shaub has just responded to Haberman’s follow up, in which she reports the ethics office within the White House counsel’s office allegedly approved the arrangement.
Shaub isn’t having it, calling their opinion “meaningless.”
The ethics office is staffed by White House attorneys in the WH Counsel, which wrote a letter to OSC, the Hatch Act agency, in 2019 insisting that the Hatch Act didn't apply to presidential appointees and defending Kellyanne Conway. Their opinion is meaningless. https://t.co/aLkX3qtqUt
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) November 3, 2020
Image: The Indian Treaty Room in the East Wing of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB) of the White House. Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian via Flickr
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