Bush’s Ethics Lawyer Says Comey “Very Likely” Violated Hatch Act

Imagine, writes attorney Richard W. Painter, that a candidate for president has some business dealings in Russia and has publicly encouraged Russians to hack the email of his opponent. If that were the case, “it would not be surprising for the F.B.I. to include this candidate and his campaign staff in its confidential investigation.” If the FBI then went in front of television or otherwise publicized it, Painter says, it would be an abuse of power and violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits someone in an official position from influencing an election. According to Painter, that scenario is a close analogy to what FBI director James B. Comey has done with his publicizing of recent developments in the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails. “That is why, on Saturday, I filed a complaint against the F.B.I. with the Office of Special Counsel, which investigates Hatch Act violations, and with the Office of Government Ethics,” he writes in a New York Times oped. Painter is a former chief ethics lawyer for George W. Bush and is currently a University of Minnesota Law School professor.