OSC recommends that Kellyanne Conway be removed from federal service

At the end of May the Wicked Witch of the White House, Kellyanne Conway, scoffed at the idea that her engaging in politics while working in her official duties as a federal employee — a violation of the federal Hatch Act — would have any consequences for her. Kellyanne Conway dismisses Hatch Act violation: ‘Let me know when the jail sentence starts’:

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Wednesday scoffed at a government office’s findings that she violated a decades-old law barring officials from weighing in on elections in their government capacity as she railed against Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s record.

But she insisted she was not commenting on the 2020 election and that she has a right to size up the record of her boss’s potential opponent.

“I’m going to talk about people’s records because I have the right to,” Conway said.

When reporters noted the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) found she violated the Hatch Act with two interviews she gave in late 2017, Conway was dismissive.

“Blah, blah, blah,” she said as one reporter recounted the OSC’s findings.

“If you’re trying to silence me through the Hatch Act, it’s not going to work,” Conway said.

“Let me know when the jail sentence starts,” she added.

The OSC — an entity separate from special counsel Robert Mueller‘s Russia investigation — determined in March 2018 that Conway had violated the Hatch Act with two separate interviews related to the Alabama Senate special election in 2017.The OSC referred its findings to President Trump “for appropriate disciplinary action.”

However, the White House maintained at the time Conway had done nothing wrong, saying she did not explicitly tell viewers which candidate to vote for.

Drop a house on that witch. Daily Kos reports:

After an investigation, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel has sent a report to Donald Trump recommending White House “Counselor to the President” Kellyanne Conway be removed from federal service for repeated violations of the Hatch Act, which prohibits campaign activities by government employees using the resources of their government offices. In a public release, the Office of Special Counsel notes that “although the President and Vice President are exempt from the Hatch Act,” other White House employees are not.

OSC’s letter to the president accompanying the report refers to Ms. Conway as a “repeat offender” and states: “Ms. Conway’s violations, if left unpunished, would send a message to all federal employees that they need not abide by the Hatch Act’s restrictions. Her actions thus erode the principle foundation of our democratic system—the rule of law.

The release cites “numerous” occasions on which Conway disparaged Democratic presidential candidates in her official White House capacity, and specifically notes her recent mocking dismissals of the Hatch Act, telling an interviewer, “If you’re trying to silence me through the Hatch Act, it’s not going to work” and “Let me know when the jail sentence starts.”

Because Conway is a presidential appointee, disciplinary actions against Conway—including dismissal—must be taken by Donald Trump himself. Trump could, and likely will, ignore the Office of Special Counsel’s report. By publicly releasing their blistering assessment of Conway’s behavior and recommending she be removed from federal service entirely, the OSC is making sure that a Trump decision to ignore her violations—sending “a message to all federal employees that they need not abide” by current law—not only falls entirely on Trump himself, but is understood to be in itself a radical, “eroding” act corruptive of the rule of law.

The White House press office has already offered the usual pouting response.

Laws are for the little people … Trumpsters are above the law, dontcha know. This is a completely lawless Trump administration.