Pompeo Probed for Potential Hatch Act Violations

The Office of the Special Counsel (OSC) has launched an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for potentially violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from participating in political activity while on duty or while inside federal buildings, CNN reported on Monday.

At issue in the probe by the OSC, an independent federal investigative agency, is Pompeo's address to the Republican National Convention in August while on a taxpayer-funded trip to Jerusalem, according to two House Democrats — Rep. Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Rep. Nita Lowey, chairwoman of the House Committee on Appropriations.

The pair wrote in a joint statement, "This information comes on the heels of reporting that OSC is also looking into Secretary Pompeo's stated commitment to rush out more of Hillary Clinton's emails by Election Day and as the Secretary has misused State Department resources on his speech tour of swing states."

They added, "As we get closer to both this year's election and his own inevitable return to electoral politics, Mike Pompeo has grown even more brazen in misusing the State Department and the taxpayer dollars that fund it as vehicles for the administration's, and his own, political ambitions."

Congressional Democrats have also been probing Pompeo's encouragement of President Donald Trump to fire State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, who had been investigating five incidents of potential wrongdoing at the State Department at the time, including the Pompeo's possible misuse of taxpayer resources.

• Pompeo Shatters Diplomatic Norms with Political Appearances
• Democrats Request Hatch Act Probe of Republican Convention