OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The chief of staff to President Joe Biden has been found guilty of violating federal law, but Americans should not expect much to come of it.
Ron Klain was found by the Office of Special Counsel to have violated the Hatch Act. According to a definition of the law by the OSC:
The Hatch Act, a federal law passed in 1939, limits certain political activities of federal employees, as well as some state, D.C., and local government employees who work in connection with federally funded programs. The law’s purposes are to ensure 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.
Ana Galindo-Marrone, chief of the Hatch Act Unit at the OSC, has informed Klain of his violation but also said she won’t be disciplining Biden’s top White House official. She did, however, warn that if Klain commits another infraction of the law, she will consider it willful and issue a more severe punishment.
“Although OSC has concluded that Mr. Klain violated the Hatch Act, as explained below, we have decided not to pursue disciplinary action and instead issued him a warning letter,” Galindo-Marrone wrote.
She said Klain “retweeted a May 22, 2022 message from Strike PAC (@StrikePAC) from his official Twitter account (@WHCOS). The tweet read, ‘Operation Fly Formula delivers 70,000 pounds of infant formula for American mothers and their infants. Thank you @POTUS.’”
“The tweet also read, ‘Get your Democrats Deliver merch today!’ and included a link to Strike PAC’s online store and an image of the group’s ‘Democrats Deliver’ t-shirt,” she added.
Galindo-Marrone’s letter also noted:
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).
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.
Galindo-Marrone’s letter went on to note that after being notified of the potential Hatch Act violation, Klain promptly deleted the retweet.
“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,” the letter added.
In April, Klain appeared on the ABC News show “This Week,” where he was hammered by host George Stephanopoulos about scandals involving Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.
“We also know the Justice Department is intensifying its investigation into Hunter Biden, the president’s son. I assume the president has had no contact with the Justice Department about that?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“Neither the president or any of us at the White House have had any contact with the Justice Department about that,” Klain said.
“Is the president confident Hunter Biden didn’t break the law?” the host responded.
“Of course, the president’s confident that his son didn’t break the law. But, most importantly, as I said, that’s a matter that’s going to be decided by the Justice Department, by the legal process. It’s something that no one at the White House has involvement in,” Klain added.
