On Oct. 26, 2026, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a Hatch Act complaint over a campaign appearance by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, the latest entry in a list it began in September. Other CREW Hatch Act complaints filed this fall single out RFK Jr. at HHS, Scott Bessent at Treasury, Markwayne Mullin at Homeland Security and Kash Patel at the FBI.
Where it stands: Every complaint on the list is an allegation. OSC, the independent agency charged with enforcing the 1939 law on federal employees’ politics, had announced no decision on any of them by Oct. 28, and it declined to comment to The New York Times.
The administration disputes the filings. White House and agency spokespeople, quoted collectively by the Times, call the filings politically driven and say the officials have stayed within the law. In response to a separate complaint, a representative for Mullin said he “complies with all ethics and conflict of interest rules,” according to the Times. The FBI did not respond to the Times or to The Hill. Responses from HHS, Treasury and Agriculture to these specific complaints had not been reported in the sources reviewed for this article.
What Do CREW Hatch Act Complaints Allege This Fall?
CREW’s filings share one theory: that an official used a government title, platform or official topic while promoting or attacking a candidate. OSC’s own guidance lists “Using their official titles or positions while engaged in political activity” as a misuse of official authority. The table lists each 2026 filing in the order CREW posted it.
| Filed (2026) | Official or office | Setting, per CREW |
|---|---|---|
| Sept. 10, Oct. 7 | Leo Terrell, DOJ | Posts on his government X account |
| Sept. 14 | Markwayne Mullin, DHS | Fundraiser for Rep. Miller-Meeks |
| Oct. 1 | Kash Patel, FBI | Fox News segment |
| Oct. 6 | FBI Rapid Response account | Video naming El-Sayed; later deleted |
| Oct. 8 | DHS | Press release naming a Pennsylvania candidate |
| Oct. 8 | Steven Cheung, White House | X post about a Texas Senate candidate |
| Oct. 9 | Stephen Miller, White House | Fox News interview |
| Oct. 22 | Robert F. Kennedy Jr., HHS | Fox News interview |
| Oct. 22 | Mullin, DHS (second) | Fox News appearances |
| Oct. 23 | Scott Bessent, Treasury | Trump rally in South Carolina |
| Oct. 26 | Brooke Rollins, Agriculture | Partisan event, using her title |
Two corrections to CREW’s own page: it spells the Michigan candidate’s name “Al-Sayed” in the Kennedy entry, and the correct spelling is El-Sayed. Its Bessent entry also names a South Carolina Senate candidate in a form we could not verify, so we do not repeat it.
What Is the Complaint Against RFK Jr.?
CREW says Kennedy, in a Fox News interview, began with HHS business and then answered a question about El-Sayed’s fitness for the Senate. In CREW’s words, he made comments “in his official capacity directed at the success or failure of a partisan candidate for public office.”
CREW compares the case to former Housing Secretary Julián Castro. In 2016, OSC concluded that Castro’s statements in an official interview “impermissibly mixed his personal political views with official agency business,” even though he tried to label some answers as personal. That is a finding about Castro, not about Kennedy; whether the comparison holds is for OSC to decide.
What Are the Complaints Against Bessent and Rollins?
CREW’s Oct. 23 complaint is about what Bessent said on stage when Trump held a GOP rally in South Carolina. CREW says he talked about his Treasury role and contrasted the administration with Democrats while urging support for Republican candidates. Bessent was already one of the officials in CREW’s earlier complaints over remarks about Zohran Mamdani’s New York mayoral campaign, Government Executive reported.
The Rollins complaint, filed Oct. 26, is the shortest entry on the list. CREW says she spoke at a partisan event “while using her government title.” CREW’s page does not name the event or its date. Our personal-capacity explainer covers the rule on titles.
What Are the Complaints Against Mullin, Patel and the FBI?
Mullin is named twice. The first complaint involves Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, an Iowa Republican, and a reelection fundraiser held for her on Sept. 12, where CREW says he was introduced by his title and discussed DHS work. The second concerns an Oct. 21 appearance on Fox News and an interview the day before. On a separate complaint, a Mullin spokesperson’s answer to the Times was that the secretary abides by every applicable ethics rule.
The Patel complaint concerns a Sept. 29 Fox News segment. The Hill quoted him telling viewers, “You may want to vote for people who back the blue, who fund law enforcement.” CREW concedes he named no candidate but argues “the Hatch Act does not require magic words.” A separate CREW complaint targeted an FBI Rapid Response video that labeled El-Sayed by party; CREW says the FBI deleted it after the filing. More on that video is in our FBI video explainer.
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What Happened to CREW’s Older Complaints?
They are still open, as far as the public record shows. CREW’s August letter to OSC said the agency had opened investigations into “six senior officials, five of which have been pending for more than 10 months,” Government Executive reported. The older complaints include Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s July 2025 Fox Business remarks about Mamdani and comments by Bessent, Karoline Leavitt and Kristi Noem. OSC told the outlet it “doesn’t comment on open cases.”
CREW also filed in September over $7.6 billion in canceled clean-energy grants that officials said were chosen “based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient’s state.” OMB and the Energy Department did not respond to Government Executive. CREW’s president, Donald Sherman, has argued the complaints “assert glaring violations,” a characterization the administration rejects.
How Does CREW Compare 2026 With Trump’s First Term?
By CREW’s tally, in the final month of the 2020 presidential race, “at least 16 different Trump administration officials committed Hatch Act violations.” That number is CREW’s own count. OSC’s formal 2021 report, by comparison, concluded that at least 13 senior officials violated the act. Our first-term vs. second-term comparison sets the two side by side. The other groups filing 2026 complaints are profiled in our watchdog guide. The newest item on CREW’s page, the Rollins filing, carries an Oct. 26, 2026 date.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did CREW accuse RFK Jr. of?
CREW’s Oct. 22 complaint says Kennedy, during a Fox News interview in his official capacity, moved from health policy to commenting on Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. It is an allegation; OSC has not ruled on it.
What is CREW’s complaint against Scott Bessent about?
CREW says Bessent discussed his Treasury role and urged support for Republican candidates at a campaign rally President Trump held in South Carolina. CREW filed it on Oct. 23, 2026. No finding has been made.
What did Brooke Rollins do, according to CREW?
CREW’s Oct. 26 complaint says the agriculture secretary spoke at a partisan event backing Republican candidates while using her government title. No public response from the Agriculture Department had been reported as of Oct. 28.
Has OSC acted on any CREW Hatch Act complaint in 2026?
No decision had been made public as of Oct. 28, 2026. OSC says it does not comment on open cases, and CREW said in August that five of its pending senior-official cases had been open more than 10 months.
Is CREW nonpartisan?
CREW is an advocacy group whose 2026 complaints mostly target Trump officials. In 2021 it brought the case in which OSC warned Biden press secretary Jen Psaki.
Sources
- The Trump administration’s midterms Hatch Act violation rampage — Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, October 2026 (entries Sept. 10 to Oct. 26)
- CREW files Hatch Act complaint against Howard Lutnick — Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, August 13, 2025
- ‘Glaring violations’ of the Hatch Act by senior Trump officials have gone unpunished for months, good government group alleges — Government Executive, August 21, 2026
- Hatch Act complaints against Trump officials continue to pile up as investigations go on for nearly a year — Government Executive, September 14, 2026
- FBI post featuring El-Sayed runs afoul of Hatch Act, experts say — The Hill, October 8, 2026
- Cabinet Officials on the Campaign Trail? Ethics Experts Say Some Are Breaking the Law. — The New York Times, October 28, 2026
- Investigation of Political Activities by Senior Trump Administration Officials During the 2020 Presidential Election — U.S. Office of Special Counsel, November 9, 2021
- OSC letter to CREW, File No. HA-22-000004 (Jen Psaki) — U.S. Office of Special Counsel (published by CREW), December 1, 2021
- Federal Employee Hatch Act Information — U.S. Office of Special Counsel, accessed October 28, 2026
- Report of Prohibited Political Activity, OSC File No. HA-16-3113 (Julián Castro) — U.S. Office of Special Counsel, July 18, 2016
This article is news reporting and analysis based on the public sources listed above, as they stood on the dates shown. Where officials, lawmakers or analysts disagree, including on whether an action is lawful, their positions are attributed to them; Donald Trump Class Action is not a court and nothing here is legal advice. Facts in a developing story can change.