Fmr. Ethics Chief: Kellyanne Conway Committed ‘A Slam Dunk Violation of The Hatch Act’

RUSH EXCERPT:
PAINTER: "Oh yeah, this is a slam dunk violation of the hatch act. The hatch act applies to every executive branch employee other than the president and the vice president. You are prohibited from in your official capacity using your official title endorsing a candidate or opposing a candidate in a partisan election. She’s standing there on the White House lawn in front of the White House. She’s obviously giving an official interview. The press corps hangs out there, waits for people to give official capacity interviews. She can’t do that. If she wants to go in her personal capacity somewhere else without using her official title and she wants to endorse a racist or a pedophile or anyone else for any position anywhere, she has a First Amendment right to do that as a private citizen. But not using her official title, not on the White House lawn. That’s a slam dunk violation of the hatch act and the penalty is firing. We would not have tolerated that in the Bush White House when I was there. If someone had endorsed a candidate in that capacity in that location."