Trump aide says insiders wore Hatch Act violations like ‘badge of honour’

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A former Donald Trump aide says that White House insiders wore Hatch Act violations like “a badge of honour”.

Stephanie Grisham, who served as the former president’s press secretary, said that administration staffers viewed contravening it as a “joke”.

The Hatch Act is a federal law that bans government employees from engaging in political activity.

The Office of the Special Counsel released a report last week in which it named 13 senior Trump administration who had breached the Hatch Act.

And Ms Grisham told CNN that Mr Trump tolerated any violations of the law by his staff.

“I recall in the White House when we would get Hatch Act violations, that was a badge of honor. It was a joke in the White House,” Ms Grisham told host Jim Acosta.

“And you know, the president used to say to us, ‘You know who’s in charge of the Hatch Act? It’s me. Go ahead, say whatever you want to say,’” she added.

Ms Grisham, who also worked as Melania Trump’s chief of staff, predicted that Mr Trump would continue to try and block any Congressional oversight on the 6 January Capitol riot.

“I think this makes the 2022 elections more vital than ever because I have a feeling, knowing them like I do, he’s going to tell everyone to stall and that if the House takes over with his rubber stamp candidates that he wants to get in, the special committee will then go away. That’s kind of what I foresee happening,” she told CNN.

Mr Trump’s former chief strategist surrendered to the FBI on Monday on charges of criminal contempt of Congress, stemming from his refusal to cooperate with the House select committee probing the violence.