White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway violated law with TV statements, watchdog says

Investigation says top aide broke the law by advocating for and against candidates in an Alabama Senate race

White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway broke the law by making political statements on television, according to a federal watchdog.

The US Office of Special Counsel said Ms Conway violated the Hatch Act by expressly advocating for Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore and speaking against his opponent, Democrat Doug Jones, in a heated Alabama special election.

Seeking to separate policymaking from politicking, the Hatch Act bars federal employees from using their influence to try and alter the outcome of elections.

An investigation by the special counsel’s office - which is distinct from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election - found that Ms Conway breached that wall in a pair of television interviews leading up to the Alabama election.

“During both interviews, she impermissibly mixed official government business with political views about candidates”, Special Counsel Henry J Kerner said in a letter to the White House.

The investigation said Ms Conway had been trained in ethics guidelines and the parameters of the Hatch Act before the interviews in question.

Mr Kerner said he was referring the case to the White House for potential discipline. The Trump administration disputed the investigations’ findings, saying in a statement that Ms Conway deliberately sought to avoid taking a side.

“Kellyanne Conway did not advocate for or against the election of any particular candidate,” Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley said in a statement. “She simply expressed the President’s obvious position that he have people in the House and Senate who support his agenda”.

A top aide to Donald Trump, Ms Conway previously faced scrutiny over how she used her official position after she encouraged consumers to “go buy” products marketed by Ivanka Trump, the President’s daughter.

The White House said afterward it had “counselled” Ms Conway about her remark. An administration attorney later said she would not face penalties, stating in a letter that she had “acted inadvertently” and overruling the Office of Government Ethics' conclusion that there was “strong reason” to believe Ms Conway had transgressed ethics standards and merited disciplinary action.