Hatch Act Fact Check: 7 Claims About Trump Officials and the 2026 Midterms

With the Nov. 3 midterms days away and complaints against Trump officials multiplying, claims about the Hatch Act are moving faster than the facts. The New York Times, in a story published Oct. 28, wrote that “at least nine of 15 cabinet secretaries and several other senior Trump deputies have been formally accused of Hatch Act violations” in recent months. This Hatch Act fact check tests seven claims circulating about the law and those cases against the statute, Office of Special Counsel (OSC) records and court filings.

Where it stands: Apart from OSC’s closure of one Kentucky complaint against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, no 2026 Hatch Act complaint against a senior Trump official had produced a public decision as of Oct. 28, whether from OSC, from the federal personnel board that hears Hatch Act cases, or from any judge. The administration’s position, as the Times summarized it, is that the complaints are politically motivated and that its officials comply with the law. Every person named below is accused, not found in violation.

Hatch Act fact check: does the law cover the president and the cabinet?

Claim: The Hatch Act covers the president. Verdict: False. The law’s definition of a covered employee reaches anyone in an executive agency “other than the President and the Vice President.” Their staff and appointees are covered. A 2026 House bill would apply some limits to the president on federal property, but it has not been enacted.

Claim: Cabinet secretaries may not campaign at all. Verdict: False. OSC says Senate-confirmed appointees are “subject to the provisions of the Hatch Act,” but the statute lets top policy officials engage in political activity that ordinary workers cannot, even on duty, if the costs are not paid from the Treasury. The line they cannot cross is using their office to sway an election, which includes invoking an official title at a campaign event. Our Hatch Act explainer covers the full structure.

Have nine of 15 cabinet secretaries been accused?

Verdict: That is the Times’ count, and it did not publish the names. Readers should not treat any list circulating online as the Times’ list. What can be confirmed independently is that public complaints filed with OSC in 2025 and 2026 name at least these department heads, each of whom is accused only:

• Doug Burgum (Interior) and Howard Lutnick (Commerce), named by DDF, the Democracy Defenders Fund, and Reporters Without Borders in a complaint over an Oct. 13 Alaska rally. Interior called it baseless and politically motivated; Commerce did not respond to the Times.
• Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, in a DDF complaint filed Sept. 10. The department says he follows all applicable ethics laws.
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in two complaints by The Steady State. The Pentagon says his campaign appearances were personal.
• Attorney General Todd Blanche, in a Public Citizen complaint. The Justice Department called it “a politically-motivated complaint” and “baseless.”
• Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, in complaints by CREW and DDF. A representative told the Times he complies with all ethics rules.
• Three more, in CREW complaints filed this fall: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Health and Human Services), Scott Bessent (Treasury) and Brooke Rollins (Agriculture). We found no department-specific reply to those complaints; the administration’s general position above applies.

The full tracker is in our list of Hatch Act complaints against Trump officials.

Has OSC found any 2026 violations?

Claim: OSC has found Trump officials violated the Hatch Act this year. Verdict: Not for senior officials. By mid-September, according to Government Executive, OSC “does not appear to have issued any findings yet” on senior appointees, and none had been reported by Oct. 28. The one known outcome went the other way: OSC closed a Kentucky complaint against Hegseth, concluding he appeared personally because he “neither used his official title nor referred to the Department of War.” OSC has, however, reached settlements with rank-and-file employees this year, including suspensions.

Claim: OSC changed its rules to let agencies attack Democrats. Verdict: Misleading. In a Sept. 25 assessment of more than 1,000 complaints about shutdown messaging, OSC declined to discipline anyone because agencies had relied on a 2024 OSC advisory, and it “makes no final determination” on whether the messages broke the law. Its revised test cuts both ways: a neutral, passing mention of a party made long before any vote is treated as unlikely to count, while references that are “gratuitous, made close to an election, and framed as an attack on a party are likely to be political activity.” The Times summarized the guidance using the word “unlikely.”

Is a Hatch Act violation a crime, and can officials be fined?

Claim: A Hatch Act violation can land an official in prison. Verdict: False under current law. The statute’s penalties are administrative: firing, demotion, a federal-job ban of up to five years, unpaid suspension, a reprimand or a civil fine. OSC quoted Kellyanne Conway’s 2019 quip, “Let me know when the jail sentence starts,” in the report recommending her removal; the Hatch Act itself carries no jail term. Separate criminal statutes exist. The Campaign Legal Center’s ads complaint cites one, 18 U.S.C. 610, a ban on pressuring federal workers into politics, and accuses officials of “violating both the Hatch Act and criminal law,” an allegation no court has addressed. H.R. 8831, a House bill introduced in May, would create a criminal offense for knowing violations, with a $50,000 fine and as much as a year behind bars. That proposal has not passed.

Claim: Cabinet officials face fines. Verdict: Only if the president imposes them. The fine is capped at $1,000 in the statute, and $1,365 after inflation adjustment under current regulations. For Senate-confirmed officials, OSC’s complaint goes “to the President for appropriate action” rather than to the board that fines other employees. Details are in our penalties guide.

Did a judge rule the Trump ads broke the Hatch Act?

Verdict: False. In the case Common Cause v. DHS, No. 1:26-cv-08882 in the Southern District of New York, Judge Jennifer L. Rochon issued a temporary restraining order on Oct. 11 halting funding for the taxpayer-paid ads. It is an appropriations case: the order rests on federal spending law and does not mention the Hatch Act, and it found only that the plaintiffs “are likely to succeed on the merits,” the standard for emergency relief, not a final judgment. A separate Hatch Act complaint by the Campaign Legal Center is pending at OSC. In a Sept. 25 statement quoted in that complaint, the White House said the spots are “very clearly not campaign ads.” Our ads lawsuit report has the details.

Did the FBI raid Ilhan Omar’s home?

Verdict: Wrong agency. The Justice Department said agents of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) executed a court-authorized search warrant at Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home in the Washington area on Oct. 12, calling it “part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation.” It gave no other details, and no charges have been announced. Omar, who represents Minnesota’s 5th District, denies wrongdoing and called the search “the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation.” Trump said he had “nothing to do” with it. DDF’s filing over the search is an administrative complaint to OSC, not a lawsuit, Newsweek reported; Mullin’s representative said he complies with ethics rules, and Blanche’s said the search’s timing was consistent with department policy, according to the Times. OSC had announced no action on that complaint by Oct. 28, with the Nov. 3 vote under a week off.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is President Trump bound by the Hatch Act?

He is not. By statute, a covered employee is anyone in an executive agency other than the president and vice president. Their aides and appointees are covered.

Has anyone in the Trump cabinet been found to violate the Hatch Act in 2026?

No such finding had been made public as of October 28. The Office of Special Counsel closed one Kentucky complaint against Pete Hegseth, concluding he appeared in a personal capacity. Other complaints were pending.

Is violating the Hatch Act a crime?

Not under the Hatch Act itself, whose penalties are administrative: removal, suspension, demotion, debarment, reprimand or a civil fine. Separate criminal laws cover some election-related abuses, and a 2026 House bill would add a criminal penalty, but it has not become law.

How much is the Hatch Act fine?

The statute caps the civil penalty at $1,000. Inflation adjustments set by the Merit Systems Protection Board have raised the working ceiling to $1,365.

Who has the power to discipline a cabinet member for Hatch Act breaches?

Just one person, the president. For Senate-confirmed officials, the Office of Special Counsel sends its complaint to the president for appropriate action instead of to the Merit Systems Protection Board.

Sources

• 5 U.S.C. Chapter 73, Subchapter III: Political Activities — U.S. Government Publishing Office (govinfo), 2023 edition
• Hatch Act FAQs — U.S. Office of Special Counsel, accessed October 28, 2026
• 5 CFR 1201.126: Final decisions — eCFR (Office of the Federal Register), current as of October 27, 2026
• 5 U.S. Code § 1215 – Disciplinary action — Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, accessed October 28, 2026
• Cabinet Officials on the Campaign Trail? Ethics Experts Say Some Are Breaking the Law. — The New York Times, October 28, 2026
• Request for Hatch Act Investigation into High-Level Officials’ Participation in October 13 Campaign Rally for Alaska Senate Candidate Dan Sullivan — Democracy Defenders Fund and Reporters Without Borders (complaint letter), October 16, 2026
• Hatch Act complaints against Trump officials continue to pile up as investigations go on for nearly a year — Government Executive, September 14, 2026
• Ethics complaint asks federal office to investigate Pete Hegseth’s appearance at Zach Nunn Iowa fundraiser — The Gazette (via Mason City Globe Gazette), September 2026
• Attorney general violated Hatch Act ethics rules, nonprofit says — Government Executive, August 18, 2026
• The Trump administration’s midterms Hatch Act violation rampage — Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, October 2026
• Bipartisan Ethics Experts Accuse Trump Officials of Violating Federal Law in Raid on Rep. Omar’s Home — Democracy Defenders Fund, October 13, 2026
• Hatch Act Assessment and Advisory: Partisan Agency Communications During the 2025 Lapse in Appropriations — U.S. Office of Special Counsel, September 25, 2026
• Report of Prohibited Political Activity Under the Hatch Act (Kellyanne Conway) — U.S. Office of Special Counsel, May 30, 2019
• Letter to Special Counsel Charles N. Baldis re political television advertisements — Campaign Legal Center (complaint to OSC), October 7, 2026
• H.R. 8831 (Introduced), Protecting Our Democracy Act — U.S. Government Publishing Office (govinfo), May 14, 2026
• Common Cause et al. v. Department of Homeland Security et al., Order — U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (hosted by Campaign Legal Center), October 11, 2026
• US agents search congresswoman Omar’s home in probe — Australian Associated Press with Reuters, October 13, 2026
• What’s the Hatch Act? Legal Complaint Filed Over Ilhan Omar House Search — Newsweek, October 2026

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.