It seems the corruption that ran rampant within the Trump Administration may soon finally stand subject to some justice after a Democratic congressman proposed a bombshell new amendment that would serve to hold Trump staffers, such as the infamous Kellyanne Conway and others, accountable for their countless violations of federal prohibitions, and could land them in prison for up to two years.
New York’s Congressman Dan Goldman put forth a new piece of legislation quite literally dubbed the “Kellyanne Conway Amendment” that would effectively make any willful violation of the Hatch Act a felony offense, carrying up to two years behind bars as punishment.
The Hatch Act is a federal regulation that prohibits any federal employees or personnel from utilizing their position for political gains: “Its main provision prohibits civil service employees in the executive branch of the federal government, except the president and vice president, from engaging in some forms of political activity.”
Congressman Dan Goldman said of the proposed amendment named after one of the most notorious Hatch Act violators in American history:
Today, we are marking up HR 140, a Republican bill that purports to stop the federal government from censoring protected speech under the First Amendment, despite the fact that such conduct is of course already prohibited by law. Worse yet, this is a solution in search of a problem, as my Republican colleagues have identified no evidence to support their conspiracy theory that protected speech was censored by the government. So instead of chasing ghosts, I am offering the Kellyanne Conway Amendment to address a truly serious issue: that the Trump administration wantonly and repeatedly violated the Hatch Act prohibition against using the official power of the government for partisan political purposes. This Amendment would make willful violations of the Hatch Act a felony offense and ensure serial offenders like Trump White House counselor Kellyanne Conway are faced with potential jail time as a deterrent.”
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
Donald Trump’s tumultuous and scandal-ridden administration was absolutely rife with violators of the Hatch Act, with a federal investigation determining that “at least 13 former Trump administration officials violated the law by intermingling campaigning with their official government duties,” per PBS News.
If passed, the new amendment should certainly serve to put several people back in their place.
Featured image via Flickr/Gage Skidmore, under Creative Commons license 2.0
