Trump convention blurs official business and politics

Plenty of presidents have walked right up to line separating official business from politics — or even stepped over it. President Donald Trump has blown past it with a bulldozer, and his planned Republican convention speech from White House lawn this week might be latest and most blatant example yet.

Down in polls and facing hewinds of a coronavirus-battered ecomy, Trump me case that White House is easiest location for Secret Service and law enforcement to secure for his acceptance speech after Republicans were forced to scale back ir convention because of pandemic.

Left unsaid was that Executive Mansion offers Trump a grand setting as he attempts to make his case that voters should stick with him in midst of a health catastrophe that has touched nearly every aspect of American life.

“What makes this particularly galling is that president owns a hotel four blocks away from White House that he’s shown qualms about profiting from over course of his presidency,” said Donald Sherman, deputy director of nprofit government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “w he feels compelled to use White House grounds to deliver this political speech?”

That's t only mixing of government and politics this week: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is among Trump Cabinet officials who will dress convention, in his case a recorded dress from Jerusalem while on a taxpayer-funded trip to region. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue talked up Trump's reelection during an “official” visit Monday to a rth Carolina farm with president.

Under a federal law kwn as Hatch Act, civilian employees in executive branch cant use ir titles when doing political work. y are also prohibited from taking part in any partisan activity while on clock. president and vice president are exempt from rules.

independent Office of Special Counsel vised lawmakers earlier this month that White House visers would t be in violation of Hatch Act rules by taking part in convention if event was held on lawn or in residence and y attended while off-duty. But if event were held in West Wing or in ar area of White House that is regarded as a federal room, White House officials would be prohibited from attending even while off-duty.

In dition to Pompeo, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, as well as White House senior visers Kellyanne Conway, Ivanka Trump and Ja’Ron Smith, are all slated to dress convention. ministration officials are expected to t use ir titles to avoid violations, and all — with exception of Ivanka Trump — are slated to deliver ir remarks live or pre-recorded from a location outside White House complex.

Tritionally, big four Cabinet members — secretaries of state, defense, treasury and attorney general — have t attended convention. Multiple officials involved in planning process insisted that teams of lawyers from White House, Trump campaign and Republican National Committee reviewed convention plans to avoid any Hatch Act violations. officials said events on White House grounds were consistent with previous presidents using White House residence for political videos.

It's only second time that a president will deliver his acceptance speech at White House. In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his acceptance speech from White House via rio to Democratic convention that minated him for an unprecedented third term.

“Any government employees who may participate will do so in compliance with Hatch Act,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement.

Ivanka Trump, who in dition to her White House role is president’s daughter, is scheduled to introduce her far before his acceptance speech on Thursday.

Her office said in a statement that she will be participating outside of rmal working hours and will be speaking in her personal capacity as president's daughter.

Neil Eggleston, who served as White House counsel in President Barack Obama ministration, however, said that while Ivanka Trump and ors can take part in convention while staying on right side of law, “it’s completely contrary to rms.”

“People talk about White House as People’s House," Eggleston said. "Political parties come and go, but it doesn’t belong to one political party or or.”

Trump ministration is hardly first to mix business with politics.

Obama, for instance, allowed five members of his Cabinet to dress party’s 2012 convention in Charlotte, rth Carolina, as he sought reelection. Four years later, as his former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, sought White House, Obama decided to prohibit Cabinet members from taking part.

In 2012, Kathleen Sebelius, Obama’s health and human services secretary, was cited for violating federal law prohibiting Cabinet members from engaging in politics on clock when she called for president’s reelection and touted candidacy of ar Democrat at an event she was attending in her official capacity.

In 2011, a report by Office of Special Counsel found that during George W. Bush ministration, senior staff members at Office of Political Affairs violated Hatch Act by organizing dozens of political briefings from 2001 to 2007 for Republican appointees at top federal ncies in an effort to enlist m to help elect Republicans to Congress.

Trump ministration has repeatedly stepped over line, ethics experts said.

Perdue steped into politics on Monday during a visit with president to Mills River, rth Carolina, to spotlight a federal food distribution program to assist workers impacted by virus. Perdue ted appreciatively many Trump supporters who lined motorce route en route to event.

“Those were part of those forgotten people that voted for you for 2016,” Perdue said. “And I’ve got better news for you: y and many ors are going to vote for you for four more years in 2020."

In vember 2018, Office of Special Counsel found six White House officials in violation for tweeting or retweeting president’s 2016 campaign slogan “Make America Great Again” from ir official Twitter accounts. Most tably, office recommended in June 2019 that White House counselor Kellyanne Conway be fired.

Trump refused to take action against Conway, suggesting that office was trying to take away her right to free speech. Conway, who anunced this week she will be leaving White House for personal reasons by end of month, is scheduled to deliver remarks to convention on Wednesday.

Democrats have also pointed to or alleged abuses of power by Trump that h a political slant. In July, Attorney General William Barr deployed National Guard troops to clear area outside White House of demonstrators protesting police brutality minutes before Trump decided to stroll to a nearby historic church for a photo op.

president ackwledged earlier this month — before altering his public position — that he’s starving U.S. Postal Service of money to make it harder to process an expected surge of mail-in ballots, which he worries could cost him election.

Richard Painter, who served as White House chief ethics lawyer during George W. Bush ministration, said it’s unlikely that Trump’s use of White House backdrop to help his reelection effort will make a difference to outcome of election. But deliberate thumbing of his se at ethics rules and historic rms points to a “great danger.”

“It goes to core problem that government — including State Department and Department of Justice — are being used as extensions of Donald Trump campaign,” Painter said. “This is about a lot more than Kellyanne Conway or Ivanka Trump or someone else in ministration showing up to give a campaign speech on White House lawn.”