{"id":7393,"date":"2026-07-14T11:05:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T11:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7393"},"modified":"2026-07-14T11:05:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T11:05:26","slug":"rfk-jr-faces-hatch-act-complaint-after-intervening-in-congressional-races","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7393","title":{"rendered":"RFK Jr. faces Hatch Act complaint after intervening in congressional races"},"content":{"rendered":"

A top Senate Democrat has requested an investigation into whether the health secretary broke a law that bars political appointees from trying to influence elections.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more House GOP races to advance party-line bill to fund Pentagon, encourage voting restrictions<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. watches as President Donald Trump speaks at the White House on Sept. 22, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque\/Reuters)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

A top Senate Democrat has requested an investigation into whether Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. broke a federal law intended to prevent political appointees from interfering in elections, citing Washington Post reporting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, filed a complaint Monday with the Office of Special Counsel, a quasi-judicial independent agency that administers the Hatch Act and other civil service rules.<\/p>\n

The Hatch Act bars federal employees from engaging in political activity in the course of their work. Several Trump appointees in the first administration were found<\/a> to have broken the law.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump has previously derided the Hatch Act and declined<\/a> to enforce the special counsel\u2019s recommendations.<\/p>\n

In his complaint and accompanying letter<\/a> to Jamieson Greer, the acting head of the special counsel\u2019s office, Wyden cited examples of Kennedy encouraging a pair of third-party candidates in Iowa to drop out of contested House races so Republicans could keep control of Congress.<\/p>\n

The Post obtained audio<\/a> of Kennedy\u2019s call with one of the candidates, in which <\/b>the health secretary suggested he would serve as a liaison with the White House and could help the candidate if he left the race. A second candidate has said he received a similar call from Kennedy.<\/p>

Read more Supreme Court justices seek security funds in rare congressional appearance<\/a><\/p>\n

Wyden, whose committee helps oversee some of the agencies led by Kennedy, said that the Cabinet secretary\u2019s offers to the candidates were \u201cbrazenly corrupt\u201d and violated <\/b>the Hatch Act and other laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe quid pro quo offer of federal employment or other personal gain that Kennedy extended to Stewart on the June 11 phone call is conduct expressly prohibited by the Hatch Act,\u201d Wyden wrote in his letter to Greer, which was shared with The Post.<\/p>\n

The White House and the Department of Health and Human Services, which Kennedy leads, did not respond Monday to questions about Kennedy\u2019s conversations with the candidates and whether he faced any internal repercussions once the calls came to light.<\/p>\n

Trump mocked the Hatch Act in his first term, including after the Office of Special Counsel in 2019 recommended<\/a> that Kellyanne Conway, a top Trump adviser, be removed from her post for violating the law. Conway had criticized Democratic presidential candidates while she was being interviewed by media outlets in her official capacity and tweeted about the candidates from her official account, the office concluded.<\/p>\n

Trump ignored the office\u2019s recommendation and kept Conway in her post.<\/p>\n

The Hatch Act, which has been law since 1939, does not apply to the president \u2014 a fact that Trump has acknowledged in the past, including when he decided to accept the Republican nomination for president in 2020 by giving a speech at the White House.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no Hatch Act because it doesn\u2019t pertain to the president,\u201d Trump said in August 2020.<\/p>

Read more The left sees a billionaire backlash \u2014 and an opening for a wealth tax<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A top Senate Democrat has requested an investigation into whether the health secretary broke a law that bars political appointees from trying to influence elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nRFK Jr. faces Hatch Act complaint after intervening in congressional races - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7393\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"RFK Jr. faces Hatch Act complaint after intervening in congressional races - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A top Senate Democrat has requested an investigation into whether the health secretary broke a law that bars political appointees from trying to influence elections.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7393\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-14T11:05:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e8d746a7a60a8b48a87d94d2ac98649c-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1685\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7393#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7393\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"RFK Jr. faces Hatch Act complaint after intervening in congressional races\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-14T11:05:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7393\"},\"wordCount\":569,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7393#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15a9b07ca9ba2eb7e9872d3a1c91e6e2-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7393#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7393\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7393\",\"name\":\"RFK Jr. faces Hatch Act complaint after intervening in congressional races - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7393#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7393#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15a9b07ca9ba2eb7e9872d3a1c91e6e2-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-14T11:05:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7393#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7393\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7393#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15a9b07ca9ba2eb7e9872d3a1c91e6e2-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15a9b07ca9ba2eb7e9872d3a1c91e6e2-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1685,\"caption\":\"FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. looks at U.S. President Donald Trump while he makes an announcement linking autism to childhood vaccines and to the use of popular pain medication Tylenol for pregnant women and children, claims which are not backed by decades of science, at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 22, 2025. REUTERS\\\/Kevin Lamarque\\\/File Photo\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7393#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"RFK Jr. faces Hatch Act complaint after intervening in congressional races\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Moving Insider USA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"RFK Jr. faces Hatch Act complaint after intervening in congressional races - Moving Insider USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7393","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"RFK Jr. faces Hatch Act complaint after intervening in congressional races - Moving Insider USA","og_description":"A top Senate Democrat has requested an investigation into whether the health secretary broke a law that bars political appointees from trying to influence elections.","og_url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7393","og_site_name":"Moving Insider USA","article_published_time":"2026-07-14T11:05:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1685,"url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e8d746a7a60a8b48a87d94d2ac98649c-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7393#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7393"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"headline":"RFK Jr. faces Hatch Act complaint after intervening in congressional races","datePublished":"2026-07-14T11:05:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7393"},"wordCount":569,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7393#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15a9b07ca9ba2eb7e9872d3a1c91e6e2-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Interesting"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7393#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7393","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7393","name":"RFK Jr. faces Hatch Act complaint after intervening in congressional races - Moving Insider USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7393#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7393#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15a9b07ca9ba2eb7e9872d3a1c91e6e2-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-14T11:05:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7393#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7393"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7393#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15a9b07ca9ba2eb7e9872d3a1c91e6e2-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/15a9b07ca9ba2eb7e9872d3a1c91e6e2-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1685,"caption":"FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. looks at U.S. President Donald Trump while he makes an announcement linking autism to childhood vaccines and to the use of popular pain medication Tylenol for pregnant women and children, claims which are not backed by decades of science, at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 22, 2025. REUTERS\/Kevin Lamarque\/File Photo"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7393#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"RFK Jr. faces Hatch Act complaint after intervening in congressional races"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/","name":"Moving Insider USA","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com"],"url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}