White House counselor Kellyanne Conway did not violate any federal laws during the Alabama Senate race last year — but "simply expressed the president's obvious position . . . that he should have people in the Senate who would support his agenda," press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday.
"She didn't advocate for or against the election of any candidate," Sanders said at the daily briefing, referring to Conway's comments in two television interviews that supported Republican candidate Roy Moore over Democrat Doug Jones.
The Office of Special Counsel, a federal watchdog agency not affiliated with Russia special counsel Robert Mueller, said Tuesday that Conway had violated the Hatch Act.
The 1939 law bars federal government officials from using their positions to influence political campaigns.
Special Counsel Henry Kerner's report referenced two interviews in which Conway expressed Trump's preference for Moore over Jones: Nov. 20 on "Fox and Friends" on Fox News and on Dec. 6 on CNN's "New Day."
Jones won the Dec. 12 special election to fill the seat vacated by five-term Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, who had been named attorney general.
Kerner said he was sending his report to President Donald Trump "for appropriate disciplinary action."
Trump will decide what, if any, punishment she would receive.
Sanders said Wednesday: "I don't think it should be a secret to anybody that the president is going to want people in the House and Senate to help push forward policies that he supports and push forward policies and his agenda."
She noted in one interview on Fox News, Conway "declined to the specific invitation to encourage people of Alabama to vote for that Republican."
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