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Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

Kellyanne Conway Cited for Multiple Hatch Act Violations

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White House Special Advisor Kellyanne Conway, Photo Courtesy Getty Images

White House Senior Advisor Kellyanne Conway has been hit with two ethics violations from the US Office of Special Counsel (not to be confused with the ongoing Robert Mueller investigation, which is overseen by the Department of Justice) on Tuesday, March 6th.

The violations stem from a “Fox and Friends” interview she gave on November 20th, and a CNN interview on December 6th. In each interview, Kellyanne either discouraged voters in Alabama from supporting Doug Jones, or suggested that Alabamians support Roy Moore, respectively.

According to the Special Counsel’s report, “While the Hatch Act allows federal employees to express their views about candidates and political issues as private citizens, it restricts employees from using their official government positions for partisan political purposes, including by trying to influence partisan elections.”

The report concludes that Conway “impermissibly mixed official government business with political views about candidates.” It also suggests that Kellyanne ignored multiple requests to explain herself in the face of these allegations.

While Kellyanne does not face criminal charges for the violation, the Special Counsel’s office, the report was sent to the Trump White House for disciplinary action.

 

Comcast-NBC Universal Merger Approved

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Voting 4 to 1, the Federal Communications Commission has granted approval of the merger between cable and Internet giant Comcast and NBC Universal, a subsidiary of the General Electric Company (GE).

The approval comes with a number of conditions and enforceable commitments, including the fostering of competition in the online video marketplace; increasing local news coverage; expanding children’s programming; enhancing availability of Spanish-language programming; offering affordable broadband services to low-income Americans and increasing broadband access to schools, libraries, and underserved communities. Read more on the merger decision at POLITICO.

The Department of Justice announced its final approval of the settlement this afternoon. Comcast and NBCU can now proceed with their venture “conditioned on the parties’ agreement to license programming to online competitors to Comcast’s cable TV services, subject themselves to anti-retaliation provisions and adhere to Open Internet requirements.”

A statement released by DOJ outlines “that the proposed settlement will preserve new content distribution models that offer more products and greater innovation, and the potential to provide consumers access to their favorite programming on a variety of devices in a wide selection of packages.”