Senator Padilla demands update on investigation of alleged violations of federal partisanship law
WASHINGTON D.C. (KEYT) – On Monday, California Senator Alex Padilla demanded an update on a federal investigation of alleged Hatch Act violations by the Trump Administration opened earlier this year.
"On July 29, 2025, four U.S. Senators wrote to request U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) investigate senior White House and Trump Administration officials for potential violations of the Hatch Act by engaging in partisan political activities while on official duty," opened Monday's letter to the Office of Special Counsel and the Office of White House Counsel. "Since that letter of July 29, there has been a steady stream of new evidence of ongoing engagement by senior White House staff in partisan political activities related to redistricting. The situation has escalated to such a level that the Office of Special Counsel and the Office of White House Counsel must take immediate action to ensure that senior
Trump Administration officials cease this apparently illegal behavior."
Monday's letter then detailed a series of alleged violations of The Hatch Act of 1939, a federal law that limits all federal employees -except the President and Vice President- from engaging in partisan activities directed at the success or failure of a political party according to the Office of Special Counsel.
Since the initial request for an investigation in late July of this year, efforts by federal employees connected to mid-decade redistricting efforts nationwide may have also violated the federal prohibition of those partisan actions argued Senator Padilla.
"White House senior officials and others in the Trump Administration have been clearly and openly engaged in a political campaign to gain seats for the Republican Party in Congress via a rare and controversial mid-decade redistricting efforts in Texas and many other states," Senator Padilla wrote to executive branch counsel offices.
Monday's letter then cited actions by agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to search for Texas legislators refusing to participate in proceedings to alter the state's congressional districts and a pressure campaign targeting multiple state legislators in Indiana to redraw the Hoosier state's Congressional boundaries before next year's election cycle.
"I refused (the invitation), but the underling who reached out to me is trying to influence the election on my dime," detailed one Indiana State Senator about the redistricting campaign. "That individual works for me. He works for you. He’s on my payroll, he’s on your payroll, and he’s campaigning on company time. That’s a violation of the Hatch Act. He’s a federal employee. He works in the White House. But does anyone care about the rules anymore? Not that I can tell."
The same state legislator went on to explain he would have reported the alleged violations of federal law if he believed there was, "anyone of integrity in Washington that would follow through on my accusation."
According to reporting from Democracy Docket, Adam Kincaid, the director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, confirmed during sworn testimony in October that he had exchanged multiple messages over Signal set to automatically delete with members of the White House and Department of Justice regarding the mid-decade redistricting effort in Texas.
"A failure to preserve federal records and a failure to report the unlawful destruction of these records to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) are serious violations of law," noted Monday's letter.
Kincaid also shared during his testimony that he had viewed a draft letter from the Justice Department and spoke with two Justice officials about the justification for mid-decade redistricting in Texas citing the existence of race-based districts in the state.
"Congressional Districts TX-09, TX-18, TX-29 and TX-33 currently constitute unconstitutional 'coalition districts' and we urge the State of Texas to rectify these race-based considerations," stated the letter issued to the Governor of Texas and the Office of Attorney General of Texas and signed by both the Assistant Attorney General and Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. "Although the State's interest when configuring these district was to comply with Fifth Circuit precedent prior to the 2024 Petteway decision, that interest no longer exists. Post-Petteway, the Congressional Districts at issue are nothing more than vestiges of an unconstitutional racially based gerrymandering past, which must be abandoned, and must now be corrected by Texas."
The letter, its justifications, and public statements by Republican state lawmakers in Texas were the basis for a legal challenge to the redrawn districts which the Supreme Court ruled in an unsigned order last week were not enough to prevent the new boundaries from being used in the next election cycle.
Those redistricting campaigns are not the only alleged violations of the Hatch Act by the Trump Administration this year.
In October, Congressman Carbajal signed a letter to Acting Special Counsel Greer alleging that partisan messages found on federal websites during the government shutdown likely violated the federal partisanship law.
"[T]his is not about propaganda," stated the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner during an interview in October about the partisan messages on federal websites. "To me, the Democrats and the far left are using this as a distraction to really deflect from what’s really important here, and that’s how it’s been irresponsible actions on the Hill, and American people are being impacted greatly by this government shutdown."
According to the Office of Special Counsel, the penalty for violations of the Hatch Act include removal from federal service, reduction in grade, debarments from federal employment for up to five years, suspension, reprimand, or a civil penalty up to $1,000.
Allegations of violations of the Hatch Act have dogged the Trump Administration since his first term in office and in February of this year, the President fired the Senate-approved Director of the Office of Special Counsel just one year into his five-year term.
The former Director officially ended his legal attempts to retain the position in March of this year.
"The contradictory legal claims and actions reveal that the DOJ letter is a pretext for the clearly partisan political effort that is already out in the open. The purpose of this redistricting push is to defeat Democratic Members of Congress and elect Republicans to affect the balance of political party power in the 120th Congress," detailed the letter to legal officials with the White House and Office of Special Counsel. "While such goals are appropriate for a political party organization, they are not appropriate for executive branch officials, especially at the Department of Justice which must take greater steps to ensure it acts with impartiality."
Monday's letter concluded with a deadline of Dec. 15, 2025, for a response from the Special Counsel's Office regarding its ongoing investigation.
