House Oversight threatens to subpoena Kellyanne Conway

By Andrew Desiderio
Updated

The House Oversight and Reform Committee will vote to authorize a subpoena for White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Wednesday if she does not show up for the panel’s hearing on her alleged violations of the Hatch Act, according to a memo sent to lawmakers.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel has cited Conway for multiple violations of the Hatch Act, and earlier this month, Special Counsel Henry J. Kerner recommended that President Donald Trump terminate her White House employment.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the chairman of the committee, invited both Kerner and Conway to attend Wednesday’s hearing. Cummings asked Conway to inform the panel by Monday at 5 p.m. whether she plans to attend. As of Friday, according to the committee’s memo, neither Conway nor the White House had responded.

The Hatch Act bars federal employees from participating in political speech while performing their official duties. The OSC is an independent federal agency.

Conway has grown defiant over the multiple alleged violations of the Hatch Act. Last month, she brushed off the allegations, telling reporters, “If you’re trying to silence me through the Hatch Act, it’s not going to work.” She also joked about the law, saying, “Let me know when the jail sentence starts.”

White House spokesman Steven Groves accused the OSC of trying to “weaponize” the Hatch Act, and said the OSC’s June 13 report disregards Conway’s First Amendment rights to free speech. Trump has said he does not plan to fire Conway.

The OSC first dinged Conway for Hatch Act violations after she commented on the Alabama Senate race in 2017. More recently, the OSC said, Conway was improperly using her White House position to weigh in on the 2020 presidential race.

“Ms. Conway’s advocacy against the Democratic candidates and open endorsement of the president’s re-election effort during both official media appearances and on her Twitter account constitute prohibited personnel activity under the Hatch Act,” the OSC’s June 13 report said.

The Oversight Committee has been investigating the Trump administration on a host of issues, including alleged abuses with the security clearance process and the decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.