Politics
FBI Social Media Account Now Doing Opposition Research On Senate Candidates
By Sean Vanity, . BSN Network. Satire.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation, whose official mandate includes counterterrorism, cybercrime, and public corruption, has expanded its portfolio this week to include branding Michigan Democrats as threats to civilization ahead of a competitive Senate race.
The bureau's social media account posted a video that identifies Abdul El-Sayed, currently running for the United States Senate in Michigan, as a member of what the video calls the "defund the police crowd." El-Sayed is a doctor. He has not, to anyone's knowledge, defunded any police. He is, however, running against a candidate the current administration would prefer to win, which appears to have been sufficient.
The video does not mention the election. This is because mentioning the election would make it obviously illegal, and the FBI is nothing if not procedurally careful.
Also featured in the video: FBI Director Kash Patel, credited personally for the arrest of violent criminals, in the manner of a movie producer who insists his name appear above the title. Legal experts say the combination of opposition research and a hero credit for the sitting director in a single piece of official government content is a probable violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from using their positions to influence elections. The experts have described this as "concerning." The FBI has described this as nothing, because the FBI has not said anything.
"This is a serious misuse of federal law enforcement resources to target a political candidate," said Brandy Colton, a government ethics attorney who asked to be quoted in full because, she noted, she has been saying this for four years and nobody printed it. "The Hatch Act exists precisely because the alternative is the nation's top law enforcement agency making campaign videos, which is what we are currently watching happen."
Kash Patel, for his part, has not addressed the complaints, possibly because addressing them would require acknowledging that a video crediting Kash Patel for Kash Patel's heroism was produced by the agency Kash Patel runs and posted to the official FBI account that Kash Patel controls. This is the kind of conflict of interest a compliance officer would flag. The FBI does not currently have a compliance officer. It has Kash Patel.
El-Sayed responded to the video by pointing out that he is a Senate candidate, not a criminal, a distinction the FBI's social media team appears to find immaterial.
Complaints have been filed with the Office of Special Counsel, the body responsible for Hatch Act enforcement, which has the authority to investigate, issue findings, and then be ignored. The OSC has a strong track record on the first two.
The video remains up.
The FBI's Instagram account has not yet announced a fundraising deadline, but the third quarter ends Friday.
The story we are making fun of: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6135190-fbi-hatch-act-violation-complaint/