Judge Napolitano: Trump White House Convention Speech Legal “But Ill-Advised & Unwise”
On Fox Across America with Jimmy Failla, Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano discusses whether it’s legal for President Trump to accept the Republican nomination from the White House or the White House Lawn.
“There is a statute called the Hatch Act which prohibits all federal employees, but two, from engaging in politics while on federal property. The two are President and Vice President. I’m sure that FDR, and he was President after the Hatch Act became law, campaigned from the White House, certainly in ’44, when he was in very, very ill health. I think it’s ill-advised and I think it’s unwise and I think it’s another hook on which the Democrats can hang their hat and I wouldn’t do it if I were him. But is there’s no legal impediment, and he has every legal right to do so.”
“It is not illegal for the President to do so, but the President can’t do it alone. Is it illegal for the political operatives who set it up and physically make it happen? That question has not been answered. A hundred people, which is what it takes to get the President on air, would physically be there to get him on air and if it’s government employees, are they violating the Hatch Act? Those are the questions that will have to be answered.”