Trump said he may deliver convention speech from White House
“Well we are thinking about it. It would be easiest from the standpoint of security,” he said during an interview with “Fox and Friends.” “We are thinking about doing it from the White House because there’s no movement. It’s easy, and I think it’s a beautiful setting and we are thinking about that. It’s certainly one of the alternatives. It’s the easiest alternative, I think it’s a beautiful alternative.”
Ethics experts say Trump entertaining the notion of accepting the nomination from White House property highlights his willingness to trample on norms.
A federal law, known as the Hatch Act, generally forbids the use of government property and employees for political activities with some exceptions. The President and vice president are exempted, but some previous officeholders have sought to limit political activity in the White House, for instance, by holding political events elsewhere or in the residential spaces of the presidential mansion.
“This is an overt campaign act,” Kedric Payne, general counsel and senior director of ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, said of Trump’s move. “He’s been riding the line in making statements about Biden at White House events. This is beyond the line.”
Mentioning Republican lawmakers Reps. Matt Gaetz and Jim Jordan also making speeches, Trump said, “I will probably do mine live from the White House,” adding, “If for some reason somebody had difficulty with it, I could go someplace else.”
Experts say hosting the event at the White House could lead to potential Hatch Act violations for any government employees who participate. But enforcement would fall to the President, who has not taken action on these matters in the past.
In June 2019, the Office of Special Counsel recommended that the President remove Kellyanne Conway from her job as a top White House aide, calling her a “repeat offender” of the Hatch Act’s restrictions. She remains in her post.
“This is just another example of Trump exposing loopholes in the law,” Payne added.
This is story has been updated.
CNN’s Jeremy Diamond and Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.
