Because She Willfully Violated a Legal Congressional Subpoena, Former Trump Advisor Kellyanne Conway May Still Land Herself Jail Time and a Hefty Fine

Because She Willfully Violated a Legal Congressional Subpoena, Former Trump Advisor Kellyanne Conway May Still Land Herself Jail Time and a Hefty Fine

The former White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway defied a congressional subpoena and failed to appear at a congressional hearing to give testimony about her violations of the Hatch Act. There may now be consequences.

House Democrats have threatened to hold her in contempt of Congress, which carries a penalty of no less than one month and no more than one year in prison, plus a fine of up to $100,000.

White House Counsel Pat Cipollone penned a letter that directed Conway not to appear at the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee hearing, arguing that current and former White House officials were “absolutely immune” from being required to testify before Congress, according to a letter released by the committee.

“Kellyanne Conway Speaks with Reporters” by The White House is marked under CC PDM 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

Congress released a letter addressed to the now-deceased Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the former chairman of the panel in which Cipollone reaffirmed the Trump administration’s long-held stance that presidential advisers, current and past, are “absolutely immune” from being required to testify before congress.

“Kellyanne Conway Speaks to the Press” by The White House is marked under CC PDM 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

The letter read, in part, “Ms. Conway cannot be compelled to testify before Congress with respect to matters related to her service as a senior adviser to the president.”

He continued, “Because of this constitutional immunity, and in order to protect the prerogatives of the Office of the President, the president has directed Ms. Conway not to appear at the committee’s scheduled hearing.”

House Dems have been accused of targeting the White House with harassment on many fronts and against many members of the administration; Conway is simply the another.

Former White House Press Secretary, Stephanie Grisham, said, “… Democrats on the House Oversight Committee continued their purely political campaign to harass the president and his close advisers.

Democrats continue to overreach and politicize the Office of Special Counsel — this time, by trying to silence Kellyanne Conway with ill-founded, phony allegations about the Hatch Act.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel found that Conway had violated the 1939 enacted Hatch Act, which prohibits government workers from participating in political speech while performing official job duties and the House Oversight Committee has been looking into it.

Cummings commented further, “This illegal activity — and the ongoing effort to cover it up — must not be allowed to stand.”

Conway has spoken out against the claims that she was in violation of the Hatch Act but she has not yet given her side and Cummings had the subpoena issued after the White House made the bold move to block Conway from appearing before the committee on her own.

Even Trump appointee Henry J. Kerner, who is now the OSC chief, called Conway a “repeat offender” of the Hatch Act, in his testimony to the committee last month, even recommending that Trump FIRE Ms. Conway. But what did Trump do?

He continued to defend her.

Perhaps also not surprisingly, Republican lawmakers are defending Conway. Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan said, “This hearing is solely for the purpose of creating political theater.”

Kerner gave specific examples of Conway’s violations in his report, citing the multiple times she has spoken about the 2020 election and other various local and state elections.

Kerner said,

“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.” Henry Kerner

 

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