The White House has been accused of violating a federal law, the Hatch Act, over messages disseminated by government departments in the wake of the U.S. government shutdown—the act restricts partisan political activity among federal workers.
Why It Matters
After Congress could not agree on a funding measure, the government shut down as midnight passed on 1 October. This means that non-essential government services have ground to a halt, and some federal workers have been furloughed and others laid off.
If it is determined that President Donald Trump’s administration has broken the law, it could undermine trust in the White House and raise questions about an overreach of power. Penalties for breaching the Hatch Act include fines, suspensions and removals from employment.
Politics in the U.S. has become increasingly polarized, with debates about free speech raging after the death of political activist Charlie Kirk.
What To Know
Since the shutdown, advocacy groups have complained that some government communications about the shutdown, including emails and website posts blaming Democrats, violate federal laws restricting the behavior of government departments.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Newsweek: “It’s an objective fact that Democrats are responsible for the government shutdown, the Trump administration is simply sharing the truth with the American people.”
Corey Williams, communications director at the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC), the government agency which enforces the Hatch Act, said in an automated email: “I am out of the office due to a lapse in federal appropriations and will respond upon return.”
The Democracy Defenders Fund, a nonpartisan group, has filed a complaint to the Government Accountability Office urging it to investigate whether the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) violated appropriations laws including the Anti-Deficiency Act, a law which restricts government spending, when it posted social media and website content blaming the “Radical Left” for the shutdown. The group argued that these messages breach rules on the use of funds for publicity and propaganda.
“The purpose of HUD’s website is to help Americans find affordable housing and protect their rights. It is not a campaign website or a tool to advance a political party’s agenda,” said Virginia Canter, ethics and anticorruption chief counsel and director at Democracy Defenders Fund. “The Trump administration, however, turned a government agency website into a partisan billboard. It’s an abuse of power, a waste of taxpayer money, and appears to be a flat-out violation of the law.”
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) told Newsweek it does not investigate potential Hatch Act violations of executive branch agencies.
On Tuesday, the advocacy group Public Citizen also filed a complaint with OSC, alleging that HUD’s messaging was a “blatant violation” of the Hatch Act.
The HUD press team said in an automated email: “The Radical Left has shut down the government. As a result, HUD’s Office of Public Affairs is operating in a limited capacity, which impacts our ability to promptly engage with the mainstream media. Once the government is reopened, we look forward to being back in touch.”
Meanwhile, Newsweek obtained emails from other government departments, including one sent to employees at the Department of the Interior (DOI), accusing Democrats of “blocking” a resolution to keep the government open and another to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) employees before the shutdown which read: “If Congressional Democrats maintain their current posture and refuse to pass a clean Continuing Resolution to keep the government funded before midnight on September 30, 2025, federal appropriated funding will lapse.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice (DOJ) posted a message on its website which read: “Democrats have shut down the government” and other departments that posted messages referring to the left include the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA).”
Newsweek has contacted the VA, DOJ, USDA, DOI, and HHS by email for comment on this story.
A White House official told Newsweek that previous Democratic regimes blamed the Republicans in official statements. Among other examples, they pointed to a September 2024 fact sheet released by the White House which accused Republicans of “wasting time with extreme policies” in a continuing resolution they sought to pass at the time.
What People Are Saying
Speaking to Newsweek, Joe Spielberger, senior policy counsel at nonpartisan government watchdog the Project on Government Oversight said the “alarming” government communications “pose serious risks of violating the Hatch Act.”
“These types of agency communications are very alarming, and pose serious risks of violating the Hatch Act, even if it’s determined, based on technicality, they do not,” he said.
He added that while the “HHS email doesn’t explicitly reference an election or candidate or instruct how to vote, blaming Congressional Democrats for the government shutdown could still violate the law.”
“At the very least, it is using taxpayer funds to disseminate overtly partisan messaging,” he continued. “This risks chilling free speech and pressuring employees toward partisan loyalty and conformity, and sends a message to the public that the agency might not treat people fairly because of their political affiliation.
Spielberger also said that HUD blaming the “Radical Left” instead of Democrats more specifically “may be another attempt to potentially stave off a technical Hatch Act violation.”
“However, it certainly is an affront to merit system principles and our foundational values of having a nonpartisan civil service that serves people fairly and in the public’s best interest,” he said.
Richard Painter, a chief ethics lawyer under former President George W. Bush, said the various government messages were “probably part of a coordinated executive branch campaign to lobby Congress.” He said that this “probably violates statutory restrictions on use of taxpayer money to lobby Congress.”
What Happens Next