CNN
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The Office of Special Counsel determined that Navy Secretary Carlos del Toro violated the Hatch Act when he supported President Joe Biden overseas in January.
Del Toro, speaking in his official capacity at a Royal Institute for Security Studies event, said, “The United States and the world need President Biden’s mature leadership,” according to the OSC. Del Toro added, “We cannot entrust our country with a dictator and a rule-following president whose interpretation of democratic principles is questionable at best.”
The Hatch Act is a federal law that prohibits federal employees from participating in political activities while on the job or performing their official duties.
In a subsequent television interview with the BBC, del Toro said he was “very confident” that Biden had “provided mature leadership in both stabilising the US economy and ensuring it has a stable future in the face of many challenges at the start of his term”.
Del Toro also questioned whether former President Donald Trump “upheld the core values of our country, defended the freedom of the American people and people around the world, and defended democracy itself. And when someone doesn’t live up to those core principles, it makes you question whether you should support that person.”
In a letter to the president, special counsel Hampton Dellinger wrote that del Toro “falsely advocated for the views of his personal political campaign while serving in his official government capacity.”
But in their response to the OSC, del Toro’s lawyers argued that the Secretary’s comments were “spontaneous and unplanned” and had a limited U.S. audience, so they did not violate the Hatch Act.
The Office of Special Counsel is an independent agency within the federal government whose mission is, in part, to enforce the Hatch Act and investigate alleged violations.
CNN has reached out to the Navy and the Office of the Secretary of the Navy for comment.
Since the Biden administration took office, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has made clear the importance of keeping the military out of politics. At a press conference shortly after taking office, Secretary Austin said, “It’s very important to me that this department stays out of politics. We’re going to do everything we can to ensure that our service members and military leaders stay focused on the mission at hand and understand that we are not part of a political machine.”
When asked about the OSC’s findings, Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh stressed the importance of keeping the military out of politics. “It is important to maintain the trust and confidence of the American people, and to do that, we must avoid any actions that could suggest endorsement of any political party, candidate or campaign,” she said at a press conference on Thursday.
