Sanders Broke Ethics Rules When She Tweeted Photo With Kanye: Watchdog Group

Mary Papenfuss
Updated

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders likely violated ethics regulations when she posted a photo on her official White House Twitter account of Kanye West wearing a MAGA hat, a watchdog group charged.

West’s hat touts President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.” Sanders posed with the rapper for the photo after his wild appearance in the Oval Office Thursday with Trump.

The group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint Friday with the Office of Special Counsel, accusing Sanders of violating the Hatch Act. The act forbids federal employees from using their influence, position, work resources or social media accounts to affect the “results of an election.”

The special counsel determined earlier this year that once Trump declared he was running for re-election, any “display” of Trump’s MAGA campaign slogan by a federal employee is a violation of the Hatch Act.

“This administration does not seem to care about what the law says when it comes to ethics issues like using official positions for politics,” CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said in a statement. “How many investigations ... are needed until this administration takes action to stop the misuse of government resources for political activity?”

A number of Trump administration officials have violated the Hatch Act, including United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, Melania Trump’s spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham (with a gushing #MAGA tweet), White House director of social media Dan Scavino, and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway — twice — for touting Roy Moore of Alabama for senator, the OSC determined. Conway was also previously warned about ethics violations after she urged listeners on national TV to buy Ivanka Trump’s products.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.