Investigations Update: Hatch Act Violations, Covid-19 Vaccine Contracts, and South Carolina Ballots
In this email:
* Trump Administration Hatch Act Violations
* Covid-19 Vaccine Development Contracts
* Counting People Living at Shelters in the Census

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Here’s a look at the investigations our team has been pursuing through public records requests in the last week:

Trump Administration Hatch Act Violations
On Monday, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) opened a case file ([link removed]) in response to our complaint ([link removed]) against Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over his rush to release the emails of former Secretary Hillary Clinton before the upcoming election. This isn’t the first time concerns have been raised about the secretary’s potential Hatch Act violations: A speech prerecorded ([link removed]) by Pompeo while on official travel in Israel was broadcast during this summer’s Republican convention.

Over the past week, we filed the following FOIA requests concerning potential Hatch Act violations and possible misuse of government resources at the political convention supporting President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign:
* DOJ and OSC Records: In light of Pompeo’s speech and acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf’s participation in ([link removed]) a televised naturalization ceremony at the convention (another potential Hatch Act violation), we asked both the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel ([link removed]) and the OSC ([link removed]) for records of any legal advice or analyses related to the Hatch Act and the political event.
* Public Housing Video: The convention also featured a 2-minute video about public housing in which Lynne Patton, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s regional administrator for the New York and New Jersey region, interviewed four New York City Housing Authority tenants. Patton claimed ([link removed]) the video was vetted by the White House and received Hatch Act clearance, but the people who appeared in the video said they were misled ([link removed]) about what it was for. We filed FOIA requests with HUD for the cost ([link removed]) to make the video and for records ([link removed]) showing that it received Hatch
Act clearance.
* Washington Monument Fireworks: At the time of the convention, the Washington Post ([link removed]) reported that the National Park Service had issued a permit to the Republican National Committee to use the Washington Monument grounds for a fireworks show at the end of the convention. The party said it would cover the cost of the event, including insurance and management expenses incurred by NPS. We filed FOIA requests with NPS for communications ([link removed]) and expense records ([link removed]) regarding the fireworks show.


Covid-19 Vaccine Development Contracts
As of Tuesday, there have been more than 8.2 million cases of Covid-19 and more than 220,000 related deaths ([link removed]) in the United States, according to the New York Times. Critics have said the Trump administration’s rush ([link removed]) for a vaccine has come at the expense ([link removed].) of important transparency and regulatory oversight measures, and there is little clarity ([link removed]) about the expected cost ([link removed]) . We partnered with Lower Drug Prices Now and Accountable Pharma to file FOIA requests
([link removed]) to multiple agencies for records reflecting the terms of Covid-19 development contracts made with pharmaceutical companies like Novavax, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson.

DHS and DOJ Task Forces
During an Aug. 31 interview ([link removed]) , Fox News host Tucker Carlson asked acting Secretary Wolf, “Why haven’t we seen the leaders of Antifa or [Black Lives Matter] arrested and charged for conspiracy?” Wolf responded that he'd talked with Attorney General William Barr and that the Justice Department was “working on it.” In early July, DHS had announced the formation of a task force ([link removed]) for protecting monuments and statues, a week after the Justice Department had created a task force dedicated to countering “anti-government extremists ([link removed]) .” We filed FOIA requests
([link removed]) for records regarding these task forces to learn whether and to what extent the two agencies are working together on the issue.

Trump’s Response to California Wildfires
During the recent presidential debate on Sept. 29, Trump said that every year he has received a phone call telling him “California’s burning ([link removed]) ,” and indicated that the state’s forest management was to blame. Trump made similar claims during wildfire emergencies in 2018 ([link removed]) and 2019 ([link removed];) , and tweeted in 2019 that he would withhold Federal Emergency Management Agency aid if California did not “get their act together ([link removed]) .” We filed FOIA requests ([link removed]) to the Department of the Interior for agency communications with the White House regarding California’s forest fires.

Counting People Living at Shelters in the Census
Last month, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, sent a letter of concern ([link removed]) to the Census Bureau about operational changes made to how census workers counted people at domestic violence shelters, soup kitchens, and other transitional living s locations. These changes could hinder the Census Bureau’s ability to accurately count individuals for the 2020 census — we filed a FOIA request for related records ([link removed]) , assessments ([link removed]) , and directives
([link removed]) .

Electoral College Appointments
Recent reporting indicates that top state officials, including ([link removed]) Pennsylvania State Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, have discussed the possibility of directly appointing delegates to the Electoral College in the event of a delay ([link removed]) in election results, potentially leading ([link removed]) to an outcome in which a presidential candidate could gain a state’s delegates without definitively winning a plurality of that state’s votes. We filed records requests ([link removed]) in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin for communications containing key terms concerning the Electoral College.

Incorrect Instructions on South Carolina Absentee Ballots
On Oct. 5, the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated ([link removed]) the requirement that South Carolina absentee ballots have a witness signature, with very few exceptions. At least one South Carolina county — Georgetown County — has sent ([link removed]) absentee ballots both before and after the court ruling with instructions that no witness signature was required. We filed records requests ([link removed]) with Georgetown County officials and the South Carolina Election Commission for directives related to these ballots with incorrect information.
To find out more about our work, you can follow us on Twitter at @WeAreOversight ([link removed]) and @ojocorrupcion ([link removed]) , or like us on Facebook ([link removed]) . If you are able, please consider supporting our work with a contribution here ([link removed]) .

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Thank you again for following our latest news. We are grateful for your support and for helping us hold the administration accountable.

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