Pascrell: Trump Campaign Violated Hatch Act By Using White House

PATERSON, NJ — New Jersey Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr. has called for an investigation into the Donald Trump campaign's use of the White House and Old Executive Office Building as an "election day war room," stating that it "runs afoul of the Hatch Act," according to a statement from his office.

On Tuesday, Pascrell filed a letter of complaint to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel asking them to look into whether the President used space inside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to run campaign operations on Election Day.

On Wednesday, the Office of the Special Counsel responded to the letter, and, in doing so, announced an investigation into the matter conducted by the office's Hatch Act Unit.

The office "was not consulted [by the Trump campaign or White House] on the decision to use space inside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building as a campaign ‘war room,'" they wrote, in response to Pascrell.

The Hatch Act forbids campaign activities on federal property, amongst other checks.

"I applaud the Office of Special Counsel for opening an investigation to determine if Donald Trump and members of the executive branch flagrantly broke the law. Despite preposterous claims from Trump’s lackeys, the proper officials were not consulted to prevent any illegal actions," said Pascrell, in a statement.

This isn't the first time the Trump administration, campaign and the President himself, has toed — or likely crossed — the line with regard to the Hatch Act.

Most visibly, the Republican National Convention included multiple speeches from the White House lawn.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren last week released a report titled "The Corrupt Trump Administration Has Made A Mockery of the Hatch Act".

According to the report, "14 administration officials have been found to have violated the Hatch Act over 50 times. At least another 22 officials are presently under investigation for nearly 100 more violations."