Trump Guy Knows Who Real Ethics Criminal Is, It Is Karine Jean-Pierre!

If anyone knows about ethics, it's former Trumpers.

Maybe you think Donald Trump is in a lot of trouble with his 37-count indictment for BOXES, but that's only because the lamestream media has been hiding the real scandal from everyone!!! As proof, we present this story reported first by NBC News and later the Washington Post and CNN and the AP, plus a lot of other outlets that are also covering it up! White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre violated the Hatch Act last fall when she referred in press briefings to "MAGA Republicans" and sometimes "Mega MAGA Republicans," according to the Office of Special Counsel, a federal watchdog agency. (It is not related at all to Special Counsel Jack Smith, and is actually an independent agency what keeps government employees and agencies on the up and up.)

The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from doing political campaigning while they're on the job, although during Donald Trump's administration it was largely considered a stupid impediment to doing the Great Man's will. We can't confirm our suspicion that Trump appointees actually competed to see who could rack up the most Hatch Act violations, but it was Kellyanne Conway anyway. 

Previously!

 Kellyanne Conway Gonna Keep On Crimin' 

Ah, but it would churlish to both-sides this, would it not? Heaven knows we would never engage in such base whataboutism by pointing out that Conway's repeated Hatch Act violations led the OSC to recommend she be "remov[ed] from federal service," which of course Trump ignored because ethics is a Deep State conspiracy. We sure are glad we're above such low rhetorical tricks!

Oh, and speaking of low rhetorical tricks, the entire ethics complaint was drummed up by a "nonpartisan" ethics watchdog group run by a former Trump administration guy, as we'll get to in a moment.

In a letter obtained by NBC News, Ana Galindo‐Marrone, head of the OSC's Hatch Act Unit, wrote,

"Because Ms. Jean‐Pierre made the statements while acting in her official capacity, she violated the Hatch Act prohibition against using her official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election."

However, despite her outrageous contempt for the law, the OSC decided to let Jean-Pierre off with a warning because she's a good kid with an otherwise clean record, NBC News 'splains. 

[The] Office of Special Counsel “decided to close this matter without further action,” Galindo‐Marrone wrote in last week's letter to Protect the Public’s Trust, noting that the White House counsel’s office “did not at the time believe that Ms. Jean‐Pierre’s remarks were prohibited.”

“We have decided not to pursue disciplinary action and have instead issued Ms. Jean‐Pierre a warning letter,” Galindo‐Marrone wrote.

Now here's the fun part that NBC News, the Post , and the others didn't look into hardly at all: The OSC investigation was triggered by a five-page complaint from a conservative outfit called "Protect the Public’s Trust," which reported Jean-Pierre's misdeeds in November. The group singled out a November 2 press briefing in which Jean-Pierre

made comments disparaging President Biden’s political opponents as “mega MAGA Republican officials who don’t believe in the rule of law,” among other derogatory statements.

The group also griped that on the same day, a week before the midterm elections,

[Just] hours later Ms. Jean-Pierre’s boss issued a prime-time address warning the nation that “democracy is under attack” and “on the ballot,” while attacking “MAGA Republicans.” While the President is not subject to the Hatch Act, Karine Jean-Pierre is and must be held accountable.

The corruption went straight to the top. Oh! Oh! Jail for mother! Jail for mother for ONE THOUSAND YEARS!

NBC News simply describes PPT as a "conservative watchdog group," although it does at least note that PPT head Michael Chamberlain is a "former Trump administration official." But wow, what a résumé! He worked in communications for Betsy DeVos's Education Department, and also ran comms for Trump's 2016 campaign in Nevada . Remember what a font of truthiness the Trump administration was? That might explain why the tone of the ethics complaint sounded so familiar.

Chamberlain cried bitter tears to NBC News about how unethical it all is, woe, woe, what has become of the norms one would expect from public office-holders, ay me! Chamberlain also said that the fact that Jean-Pierre was able to violate the Hatch Act without being punished explains why US Americans

“increasingly distrust” the Biden administration’s ethics claims, after it vowed  to uphold the highest standards.

“This episode illustrates exactly what people hate about Washington, DC and why they increasingly distrust the Biden Administration’s promises to be the most ethical in history," Chamberlain said in a statement. "The Hatch Act was a law used to pillory previous administrations but officials now appear content to sweep it under the rug.”

NBC News follows that by noting that the Office of Special Counsel issued a 2021 report finding numerous violations of the Hatch Act by the Trump administration, saying Trump officials' behavior was "especially pernicious” leading up to the 2020 election.

We looked into Protect The Pubic Truss a little more and found this fun HuffPost story noting that for a group supposedly committed to transparency and accountability in government, the organization, formed shortly after Joe Biden took office, "has been shady about its own precise nature, going as far as to misrepresent itself in public records requests." The story details how PPT has repeatedly changed how it describes itself. And like lots of great institutions dedicated to better governing, its address is

a storefront in Northeast D.C. that is home to Gold Spot Pack and Ship, a shipping, office supply and check cashing business.

The organization appears to be flush with resources, enough to file dozens of lawsuits, but Chamberlain has declined in previous interviews to disclose where its money comes from. He did not respond to HuffPost’s questions about the group’s funding and staff.

 E&E News reported in 2021 that PPT had already gone after "what it says are real or potential ethical lapses" by Biden appointees with regulatory power over the environment, energy, and public lands; even then, Chamberlain insisted the group is "nonpartisan" but also declined to say who funds it. Certainly not some big dark money outfit, that's unthinkable. Probably they collect pennies from orphans.

Chamberlain explained at the time that PPT had lots of "affiliated researchers and consultants and people helping us who have backgrounds across administrations" although he didn't say who they were. But totally nonpartisan, mind you! "We’re targeting people in the executive branch. So that’s the Biden administration right now," Chamberlain explained. So you can bet that if Donald Trump returned to office, PPT would scrutinize all his appointees too, depending on what job in the administration Chamberlain was offered.

 The HuffPost article highlights PPT's impressive work at filing lots and lots of FOIA requests and ethics complaints against Biden appointees, many of which have made their way to rightwing media and to Republicans in Congress, who have used thepartisan oppocompletely nonpartisan ethics research during hearings and stuff. A few of PPT's ethics complaints have even led to investigations, while others have led to ridiculous rightwing media reports, like the shocking news that climate ambassador John Kerry's office has exchanged emails with environmental groups.

As we say, go read the whole thing. Funny how such a plucky little brand-new group whose funding is secret has become a spigot of very serious ethical concerns about the Biden administration, huh?

And now, with the complaint against Jean-Pierre, PPT has actually made it to the big time, or at least the medium time, with a great big nothingburger that's basically the equivalent of neo-Nazis on Twitter mass reporting somebody for violating Twitter's rules because they said mean things about Nazis.

Only with a lot more money that no one can trace.

[ NBC News / Protect the Public's Trust complaint / HuffPost / E&E News ]

Yr Wonkette is funded entirely by reader donations. If you can, please give $5 or $10 monthly to help us keep stumbling onto the real story from time to time.

 Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons .