Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) in a letter released Tuesday asked the Office of Special Counsel to review whether a senior White House staffer violated the Hatch Act by threatening on Twitter to primary a Republican congressman.
Carper asked the office in a letter dated Friday to look into whether Dan Scavino Jr., White House social media director and assistant to President Donald Trump, violated federal law with a tweet encouraging a Trump-aligned candidate to run Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) out of office.
.@realDonaldTrump is bringing auto plants & jobs back to Michigan. @justinamash is a big liability.#TrumpTrain, defeat him in primary.
— Dan Scavino Jr. (@DanScavino) April 1, 2017
Carper also requested that the Office of Special Counsel investigate whether Scavino was “on official duty or on federal property” when he made the post.
The Hatch Act prohibits federal officials from referring to their official positions or titles while engaging in political activity.
On April 1, when Scavino made the post from his personal Twitter account, his user description touted both his administration positions and included a link to his official White House account.
Scavino’s description has since been edited to remove any reference to his official positions, and he scoffed at “ethics lawyers” who commented on his post.
What ‘ethics lawyers?’ The ones from the Obama Admin who want to take Trump down, or the Bush Admin who were #NeverTrump? No thanks! https://t.co/lyqw26sbGP
— Dan Scavino Jr. (@DanScavino) April 2, 2017
“Although Mr. Scavino used his personal Twitter account, and not his official White House Twitter account, these two accounts are nearly indistinguishable,” Carper wrote. “Mr. Scavino’s nearly identical Twitter pages could easily create the impression that he is acting in an official capacity when engaging in political activity on his personal account.”
Read the letter:
