Democrats question whether Trump is breaking the law with RNC speech

A House committee is questioning whether President Donald Trump might be breaking the law next week if he orders government employees to assist in his Republican National Convention speech.

Trump will formally accept his party’s presidential nomination next Thursday from the White House, an unusual choice that raised ethical concerns because of the Hatch Act, a law restricting federal employees from engaging in certain political activities. But House Democrats are also apparently asking questions about whether Trump might be breaking a separate law that forbids the coercion of federal employees to conduct political activity.

The revelation came in a follow-up letter sent Monday to House Democrats by the Office of Special Counsel, which oversees Hatch Act compliance. The letter clarified that while the office had previously confirmed Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are exempt from the Hatch Act, it could not answer questions about other “criminal provisions.”

“That opinion, which noted that the President and Vice President are not covered by any of the provisions of the Hatch Act, is limited to the civil provisions of the Hatch Act and does not opine on criminal provisions found in Title 18 of the U.S. Code,” reads the previously unreported letter, which was sent to House Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney.

A committee aide confirmed it is monitoring the RNC speech for possible violations and said Trump and Pence — who is also expected give his RNC speech on federal property — could face repercussions if they “intimidate, threaten, command or coerce” a federal employee to engage in political activity, quoting the criminal statute.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump confirmed Monday that he plans to deliver his acceptance speech on the fourth and final night of the convention from the White House, though some aides had pushed him to choose another location. “We’re doing a real speech on Thursday — live from the White House,” he said in Oshkosh, Wis.

Democrats, and even some Republicans, have expressed concerns that federal employees who would be assisting Trump with the speech would essentially be campaigning for the president, a violation of the Hatch Act.

"For the president of the United States to degrade once again the White House, as he has done over and over again, by saying he's going to completely politicize it, is something that should be rejected right out of hand," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during an interview on MSNBC last week.

Democrats had asked the Office of Special Counsel for guidance on the speech. Federal employees have faced a growing number of complaints since Trump took office that they are using their platform to campaign for the president or his allies.

In the agency’s initial letter, officials wrote that while Trump could deliver the speech from the White House since he is exempt from the Hatch Act, there could be Hatch Act implications “for those employees, depending on their level of involvement with the event and their position in the White House." In the follow-up letter on Monday, the agency said it is prohibited from issuing advisory opinions on the criminal provisions of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, an apparent response to a question from the committee.

More than 300 Republican delegates will still gather in Charlotte, the official RNC host city, on the first day to officially nominate Trump for president. But most other in-person activities will be held in Washington, D.C., including some of the four nights of prime-time speeches. Trump last month abruptly canceled the events that had been moved to Jacksonville, Fla., as the state grappled with a surge in infections.

Trump had also considered the Civil War battlefield in Gettysburg, Pa., the site of President Abraham Lincoln’s famous address, for his speech, but it raised similar ethical questions.

First lady Melania Trump is expected to deliver her speech from the White House Rose Garden, while Pence is considering Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Md., best known as the site of a major battle in the War of 1812.