Government watchdogs bared their fangs at HUD official Lynne Patton Wednesday, slapping the Trump family friend with ethics violations — for the outrage of stashing a red “USA” cap being sold by the Trump campaign on a shelf in her office.
Patton, a regular on social media, was also dinged for using her official Twitter account in “liking” partisan tweets, which like Capgate were termed violations of the Hatch Act.
One tweet she hearted on April 25, 2018, was from Kanye West, who posted a picture of President Trump’s signature on his red hat and wrote “my MAGA hat is signed.”
The Hatch Act bars federal executive branch employees from using their positions for political activity.
Patton is the 13th Trump official to be reprimanded for violating it; others include White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.
The Office of Special Counsel said Patton violated the law with her open affinity for Trump campaign hats, but the violations “do not warrant disciplinary action.”
Patton thanked the feds for not pursing disciplinary action for “two minor infractions.”
“I am grateful that the Office of Special Counsel remains an unbiased voice in Washington DC that examines accusations based upon their merits instead of their number of retweets,” Patton said in a statement.
Patton’s red USA hat was photographed on her office bookshelf for a New York magazine article.
“Once Ms. Patton became aware the campaign was selling the hat, she immediately removed it from display in her office,” wrote OSE Hatch Act unit deputy chief Erica S. Hamrick.
Patton worked for the Trump family before the president tapped her to become regional HUD administrator for New York.
She’s made headlines for sleeping in NYCHA housing units to expose the poor living conditions.
And in February, Patton, who is black, made waves when she stood behind GOP Rep. Mark Meadows during Michael Cohen’s testimony to refute Cohen’s claims that Trump was a racist.
“OSC has determined that I did not violate the Hatch Act as it pertained to my attendance at the Michael Cohen hearing, as well as my tweet defending Secretary Carson,” Patton said, referring to something she’d posted about HUD chief Ben Carson.
“To the contrary, OSC decided not to pursue disciplinary action for two minor infractions.”
Other tweets that Patton liked from her official HUD account @LynnePattonHUD include Trump’s endorsement for Ron DeSantis for Florida’s governor and RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel knocking Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Twitter.
The Office of Special Counsel “concluded that Ms. Patton violated the Hatch Act by ‘liking’ these tweets because she used her official Twitter account to engage in the activity,” Hamrick wrote.
The violations came in response to complaints filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
“After years of serving Donald Trump’s interests, it appears that Lynne Patton is still doing so in her taxpayer-funded job,” CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said in a statement.
But Patton said she remained focused on serving the residents of New York and New Jersey “whose well-being I care about the most.”