Donald Trump on Twitter: U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley Warned Over Hatch Act Violation After Retweeting Trump's Political Message
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel warned U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley over an alleged violation of the Hatch Act, a law that prohibits officials of the executive branch like her from taking part in political activities. The violation allegedly took place in June when Haley retweeted U.S. President Donald Trump's tweet endorsing a Republican candidate for Congress.
The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) called the attention of the Office of Special Counsel after Haley retweeted Trump's message, which apparently advocated the election of Ralph Norman, who was then running for Congress in South Carolina's 5th District.
"Ralph Norman, who is running for Congress in SC's 5th District, will be a fantastic help to me in cutting taxes, and..." read Trump's tweet, which was posted last June 20.
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On Oct. 3, the OSC released an official letter noting CREW that they had already issued an official warning to Haley. The letter noted that since the U.S. Ambassador's Twitter account makes use of her official government photo as her default picture, her biography says she's a U.S. ambassador to the U.N., and her account is linked to the website of the U.S. mission to the U.N., her retweet gave an impression that she was using her official post to influence her followers.
"Because Ambassador Haley's personal Twitter account included so much indicia of her official role...it gave the impression that she was acting in her official capacity when she used this account to retweet President Trump's message," said OSC in the letter. Haley has yet to comment on the issue.
Meanwhile, CREW executive director Noah Bookbinder revealed that Haley was not the first to be reprimanded for misusing her official position. According to Bookbinder, she was the third, following Senior White House aide Dan Scavino and Counselor Kellyanne Conway, who were also previously rebuked for violating the Hatch Act.
