Members of President Donald Trump’s administration are being accused of violating the Hatch Act multiple times during the Republican National Convention (RNC)
Last week, Chad Wolf — the Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security — appeared in a video of a naturalization ceremony at the White House that aired during the RNC.
Shortly after the video of the ceremony aired, Wolf was accused of violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from participating in political events in their official capacity.
During an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Wolf was asked if he knew the ceremony was going to be played at the RNC.
“No,” Wolf said, “What I knew was, again, participating in a naturalization ceremony.”
Wolf said that he has participated in “several” naturalization ceremonies “not only with the president but with the vice president.” He added that he participated in a naturalization ceremony in Denver, Colorado, the day after that video aired.
“That was an official event at the White House. It was uploaded to a public YouTube channel, anyone, any individual, organization, or political party can pull down that video and do with it as they wish. So again, it was completely legitimate,” he added.
Watch the video below:
NEW: “No,” acting DHS Sec. Chad Wolf tells @jonkarl when pressed about whether he knew that the naturalization ceremony that he led at the White House would be aired as part of the Republican National Convention. https://t.co/JJi7nHNhRz pic.twitter.com/sZa6dpVjy5
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) August 30, 2020
Wolf is not the only one who apparently did not know they would be featured in a video at the RNC. Some of the individuals from the naturalization ceremony also said they were not aware the footage would be shown at the convention.
And over the weekend, The New York Times reported four tenants featured in a video highlighting poor conditions of the New York City Housing Authority’s buildings said they were not aware they were being interviewed for the RNC video.
Additionally, they said that they do not support Trump or his policies.
The individual behind that video — Lynne Patton, the head of the New York office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development — has also been accused of violating the Hatch Act.