The White House rejects a federal watchdog agency's recommendation that President Donald Trump fire his close adviser Kellyanne Conway for breaking a law that bans administration officials from making political statements in their official capacity, Counsel Pat Cipollone said in a letter on Thursday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th June, 2019) The White House rejects a Federal watchdog agency's recommendation that President Donald Trump fire his close adviser Kellyanne Conway for breaking a law that bans administration officials from making political statements in their official capacity, Counsel Pat Cipollone said in a letter on Thursday.The US Office of Special Counsel earlier in the day called on Trump to fire Conway for violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits White House officials, except the president and vice president, from engaging in political acts.
"OSC's draft report ... makes unfair and unsupported claims against a close adviser of the President, is the product of a blatantly unfair process that ignored statutory notice requirements and has been influenced by various inappropriate considerations," Cipollone said in a letter to the federal watchdog.
The OSC said Conway had broken the Hatch Act many times publicly by disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in her official capacity during television interviews and on social media.
"The Report is based on numerous grave legal, factual and procedural errors... OSC has violated its statutory obligation to provide Ms. Conway a reasonable opportunity to respond [and] violated Ms. Conway's due process rights," the White House said in its reply.
The OSC had based its report on many basic legal and factual errors and the office had also abused its discretion by issuing a report tainted by inappropriate external influences, the White House letter stated.
