This week, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., wrote U.S. Office of Special Counsel Acting Special Counsel Karen Gorman about a letter from Biden administration employees calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
In the middle of November, NBC News reported on the letter.
“We represent a coalition of Biden-Harris administration political appointees and civil servants, positioned across the domestic and foreign policy spheres, working in federal agencies, departments, independent agencies, and the White House,” the Biden employees wrote President Joe Biden. “We call on President Biden to urgently demand a ceasefire; and to call for de-escalation of the current conflict by securing the immediate release of the Israeli hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinians; the restoration of water, fuel, electricity and other basic services; and the passage of adequate humanitarian aid to the Gaza strip.”
Rubio’s office offered some of the reasons why the senator wanted an investigation.
“More than 500 Biden administration employees have reportedly signed an open letter urging the president to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. These employees may be using their roles in the federal government to undercut efforts aimed at supporting Israel. Further, the employees may have potentially violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from participating in partisan political activities at work,” Rubio’s office noted.
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) sent letters to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel and U.S. Inspectors Generals to hold Biden Administration staff accountable for supporting pro-Hamas policies, which undercuts the President’s support for Israel, and potentially violating the Hatch Act.
“Given the timeline with which the anonymous letter was sent and the known connections between administration staff and the president’s political allies, it is reasonable to suspect that these government employees could have coordinated the letter with partisan political actors and/or groups, such as the DNC, while on government time, using government resources. If this suspicion were to be true, it would constitute major violation of the Hatch Act, which places certain prohibitions on partisan political activities for federal employees while at work.”
The letters sent to cabinet-level Inspectors Generals demand a full investigation detailing which federal employees have signed the letter and the extent to which they used their roles to work against policies that support the State of Israel,” Rubio wrote.
“Because the letter claims to have been signed by employees across 40 different government agencies and by political appointees confirmed by the U.S. Senate, there is ample opportunity for the signers to abuse their positions to carry out their self-declared goal. These range from officials at the U.S. Department of State insisting on prolonging the review periods of arms sales to Israel to supervisors denying promotion and salary increases to employees that support Israel. Therefore, I urge you to conduct a full investigation to determine which employees signed the letter, publicize their names, and assess to what extent they have used their positions to work counter to the policies of the president,” Rubio added.
Rubio sent letters to a host of federal offices on the matter, including the White House.
