Nonpartisan group’s Hatch Act complaint centers on Secretary Pete Hegseth’s appearance at an August 17 ticketed fundraiser for Nunn in Des Moines, where admission ran as high as $3,500.
DES MOINES, IA — The Steady State, a nonpartisan organization of more than 430 former national security officials who served under presidents of both parties, filed a complaint Friday asking the U.S. Office of Special Counsel to investigate whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated the Hatch Act when he headlined a campaign fundraiser for Congressman Zach Nunn in Des Moines on August 17.
The Steady State press release can be found here, and the complaint can be found here. The Steady State can be reached for comment at [email protected] or (212) 685-9660.
According to the complaint, Hegseth told the room that “the biggest job I have is to ensure that my department is properly funded,” and asked the audience to send Nunn back to Washington: “We need those reinforcements in Washington, D.C. We need him to continue to be there.”
The Hatch Act bars federal employees, including Cabinet officers, from using their official authority or influence to affect the result of an election. Officials may take part in some political activity only if the costs are not paid out of the U.S. Treasury. The Washington Post has reported that Hegseth used taxpayer-funded military aircraft for the trip. The complaint asks investigators to determine whether the Treasury was reimbursed, by whom and when, and asks that the flight records be preserved.
Admission to the fundraiser ran from $26 to $3,500. Nunn has not held a single open public town hall in nearly four years in Congress. Asked to hold one, he called it a “taxpayer-funded protest event.”
Statement from Sarah for Iowa Campaign Manager, Zach Schenkman:
“It was disgraceful that Zach Nunn and Pete Hegseth were partying together at a campaign stop at the state fair while our service members were under threat and facing poor conditions overseas; now we’re learning that it might have violated the law. This war has caused higher prices at the pump, higher costs at the grocery store, and skyrocketing diesel prices farmers cannot afford, and there’s no end in sight because Zach Nunn keeps voting to continue it and Pete Hegseth has no plan to end it.”
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