White House secretary charged with violating the Hatch Act

 On Friday, a government watchdog group filed a moral complaint against White House press secretary Jane Psaki, alleging that she violated the Hatch Act by appearing in her official capacity to endorse Virginia's governor candidate, Terry McAuliffe, during a news conference.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) has filed a complaint with the Office of the Special Counsel requesting an investigation into whether Psaki violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal government employees from engaging in campaign activity in their official capacity, according to the The Hill".

The complaint cites Psaki's comments during a news conference on Thursday when asked if the White House viewed the upcoming elections in Virginia as a groundbreaking race, and after Psaki said she had to be careful to avoid campaigning from behind the White House podium. "We will do everything in our power to help former Governor McAuliffe, and we believe in the agenda he represents," she said.

“The Biden administration should not follow the Trump administration down this path,” CREW President Noah Bookbinder said in a statement. For the Trump administration, this does not mean that we should be careful about complying with an important ethics.”

Psaki, who appeared on CNN later Friday, told Jake Tapper that she believes it would not have been an ethics violation if she had avoided saying "we" when referring to McAuliffe's support.

"I take ethics very seriously, and so does the president of course, and I'll be more careful with my words next time," Psaki said during the meeting. "Words are definitely important."

The Trump administration has been the subject of numerous Hatch Act complaints during its four years in office, with CREW filing complaints against Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Kylie McEnany, Hogan Gidley, Mark Meadows, and other employees for violating the law.

McEnany, who served as Trump's press secretary for less than a year, criticized the media on Thursday for failing to cover Psaki's violation of the Hatch Act.

The Office of the Special Counsel in 2019 recommended the dismissal of then-White House counselor Kellyanne Conway for being a frequent agitator, an unusual move that President Trump at the time refused to take.

The bureau determined earlier this year that Marcia Fudge, the secretary of housing and urban development, violated the Hatch Act when she spoke about the 2022 Ohio Senate election during a White House briefing.