Ranking Members Scott, Raskin Demand Federal Criminal Investigation Into Trump Administration Commandeering Federal Employee Emails to Compel Political Speech

Ranking Members Scott, Raskin Demand Federal Criminal Investigation Into Trump Administration Commandeering Federal Employee Emails to Compel Political Speech

Trump's Education Department Rewrote Employees' Auto-Replies Without Their Consent to Blame Shutdown on Democrats in Violation of the Law

Washington, D.C. - Ranking Member Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, of the House Committee on Education & Workforce, and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, of the House Judiciary Committee are demanding that the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigate the Trump Administration commandeering the email accounts of furloughed career civil servants to send partisan out-of-office messages, in violation of the First Amendment and criminal law.

"Under the First Amendment, the Executive Branch cannot compel speech any more than it can censor it. Yet Trump Administration officials have commandeered the email accounts of thousands of nonpartisan, career civil servants without their consent or knowledge to disseminate MAGA's partisan and polemical talking points in their names. This is not only unlawfully compelled speech but potentially a federal criminal felony," wrote the Ranking Members in a letter to Matthew Galeotti, the Acting Assistant Attorney General for DOJ's Criminal Division.

Funding for the federal government expired when the Republican controlled Congress failed to enact a fiscal year 2026 appropriations bills or a Continuing Resolution prior to the September 30 deadline. The resulting Republican shutdown forced many federal workers to enter furlough status.

On October 2, nonpartisan, career civil servants at the Department of Education reported that their non-partisan out-of-office email responses-implemented to inform the public of their furlough status-were dramatically altered without their consent or authorization to an overtly political message. The message, written to look like it was authored by the employee, blames Democrats for the shutdown, stating that "Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations."

The Ranking Members noted that this scheme to assume the identities of federal workers and conscript their office email accounts for partisan political purposes violates federal criminal law.

"The coercion of political speech in this manner not only violates the First Amendment by forcing American citizens to say things they did not agree to say, it appears to be a blatant violation of criminal law. 18 U.S.C § 610 forbids anyone, including officials in the federal government, from forcing federal employees to engage in political activity," wrote the Ranking Members.

The statute, which states that, "It shall be unlawful for any person to intimidate, threaten, command, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, command, or coerce, any employee of the Federal Government," does not exempt the President or Vice President from its scope, nor does it except political appointees of the Trump Administration, such as the Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought. The law provides that violators will be subject to fines or imprisonment of up to three years.

The Ranking Members requested that the DOJ swiftly investigate the ongoing violation of the rights of federal employees amid the Republican shutdown.

Click here to read the letter.

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