A top U.S. Navy official broke the law by criticizing former President Donald Trump, a watchdog said this week.
On Thursday, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel issued a report stating Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro violated the Hatch Act for comments he made about Trump earlier this year during two separate instances.
The agency stated that Del Toro’s remarks, made before Biden withdrew from the presidential race, violated the Hatch Act, which bars U.S. officials from participating in political activities while on duty and prohibits them from “using their official authority or influence to interfere with or affect the result of an election.”
In their report to President Joe Biden, the agency cited comments Del Toro made during a speech at the Royal United Services Institute where he said, “the United States and the world need the mature leadership of President Biden.”
“We cannot afford to have a president who aligns himself with autocratic dictators and rulers whose interpretation of democratic principles is suspicious (at) best,” Del Toro added.
Later in January, Del Toro made additional remarks that violated the Hatch Act during an interview with the BBC, when he was asked about his remarks on Trump’s democratic principles.
Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro speaks during a ship naming ceremony at George Washington’s estate in Mount Vernon, Virginia, on July 3, 2023. On Sept. 5, 2024, the Office of Special Counsel said that Del Toro violated the Hatch Act earlier this year for comments he made about former President Donald Trump and the 2024 election.
STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images
“When you have someone who doesn’t align to those core principles, it makes you wonder, you know, should you be supporting that individual?” Del Toro said during the interview with the BBC.
Shortly after the two instances, Del Toro reported his own remarks to the Office of Special Counsel saying “My intent in the interview was to respond with a focus on national security and the importance of strong international alliances. In retrospect, I believe my response should have been delivered more broadly without reference to specific candidates.”
Del Toro’s legal representative, Michael Bromwich also sent a letter to the Office of Special Counsel saying that the Navy Secretary’s remarks were “spontaneous and unpremeditated.”
However, the Office of Special Counsel concluded that the remarks violated the Hatch Act, with Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger saying “when speaking in his official capacity on a taxpayer-funded trip, Secretary Del Toro encouraged electoral support for one candidate over another in the upcoming presidential election. By doing so, he crossed a legal line and violated the Hatch Act.”
“This is especially troubling because Secretary Del Toro has himself acknowledged that military work and partisan politics should not be mixed. As he stated just this past July: ‘It is more important than ever for us to remember that the [Department of the Navy] is an apolitical body … Public trust and confidence depend on this,'” Dellinger said.
Asked about the violation, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said at a briefing that the department is reviewing the report. “It’s important that we maintain the trust and confidence of the American people, which requires us to avoid any action that could imply the support of any political party, candidate or campaign,” she said.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press
