Report: Fauci Cleared of Hatch Act Violation Days Before 2020 Election

A government watchdog, Protect the Public's Trust, filed a complaint against Dr. Anthony Fauci on the eve of the 2020 presidential election.

The complaint revolved around an interview Fauci gave to The Washington Post, where he expressed his support for then-candidate Biden's stance on COVID-19 over President Trump's. The Post published Fauci's remarks four days before the election.

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Protect the Public's Trust argued Fauci violated the Hatch Act. The Hatch Act prohibits employees working in the Executive Branch from engaging in partisan political activity, except for the president and vice president. 

While Fauci is entitled to whatever political opinions he wants, his position on the Trump White House's coronavirus task force meant he had an obligation as a government employee to keep his mouth shut on such matters.

As the Daily Mail reports:

Asked about the difference between their approaches, Fauci said Biden's campaign ‘is taking it seriously from a public health perspective.' Trump is ‘looking at it from a different perspective.'

Fauci then directly contradicted Trump's assessment that America was “rounding the turn.”

‘We're in for a whole lot of hurt. It's not a good situation,' he said.

‘All the stars are aligned in the wrong place as you go into the fall and winter season, with people congregating at home indoors,' he said.

‘You could not possibly be positioned more poorly.' (emphasis added)

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This week, the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) revealed the results of its inquiry into Fauci's conduct.

After 14 months, OSC cleared Fauci of any wrongdoing.

Instead of violating the Hatch Act, OSC determined that the article's author “may have written it from a particular perspective and tried to use Dr. Fauci's words to make a political point.”