The leading Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, says the Trump administration is in “blatant violation of the law” for the “misuse of taxpayer dollars for political purposes” tied to partisan guidance distributed to federal employees during the shutdown.
Garcia is urging the Office of the Special Counsel to step in.
“I write regarding the Trump Administration’s apparent violations of the Hatch Act, and illegal use of government resources to promote a false, partisan Republican political agenda,” Garcia stated in a letter addressed to the OSC, first obtained by MSNBC.
He went on to call these alleged Hatch Act breaches part of “a pattern of abuse and politicization of Executive Branch agencies.”
According to Garcia, several federal agencies issued both public and private messages that placed blame on Democrats for the ongoing government shutdown — actions that could fall under violations of the Hatch Act, a federal law prohibiting government officials from using taxpayer-funded roles to engage in political activity or speech.
The letter was directed to OSC acting head Jamieson Greer, who also holds the role of U.S. trade representative. Garcia linked the new request for inquiry to wider investigations into “attempts by the Administration to leverage federal power to advance partisan political ends, including recent efforts to censor prominent critics of President Trump.”
Reiterating his position, Garcia described the administration’s behavior as “a pattern of abuse and politicization of Executive Branch agencies,” while promising to “investigate fully.” He requested that the OSC launch an immediate investigation into “these likely violations of federal law,” and demanded a staff-level briefing “in which you provide detailed information on how you plan to address the Administration’s actions no later than October 16, 2025.”
On MSNBC’s “Way Too Early” Thursday, Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., responded to the development by saying the agencies’ communications were “almost unquestionably illegal,” describing them as “just the tip of the iceberg of a much deeper level of corruption and grift.”
Ethics experts have long criticized the disregard for rules and standards in the first months of Donald Trump’s presidency, from the acceptance of a Qatari aircraft to serve as the new Air Force One, to the release of a Trump-themed cryptocurrency coin.
“Everyone was aghast at the airplane that the Qataris gave to the president,” Auchincloss remarked. “At least Americans knew who was giving the president a bribe. With the Trump coin, you don’t even know who’s buying the president … So the corruption here is endemic, it’s systemic.”
