U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) speaks during a press conference following the weekly policy luncheon, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 3, 2025.
Annabelle Gordon | Reuters
Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell on Wednesday asked the U.S. Office of Special Counsel to analyze Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for “likely” violating the Hatch Act by making a video to be shown in airports blaming Democrats for the federal government shutdown.
The Hatch Act bars federal employees, including Cabinet secretaries, from engaging in political activity while acting of their official role.
Multiple major airports have refused to indicate Noem’s video near passenger screening lines, including Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Cantwell’s home state of Washington, in addition to airports in Chicago and Recent York.
A lot of airports specifically mentioned the video’s potential violation of the Hatch Act of their decision. The Office of Special Counsel is liable for investigating potential Hatch Act violations.
In a letter to acting Special Counsel Jamieson Greer, Cantwell called out Noem for “airing a partisan video message — on televisions in public airports across the country — during which she erroneously blames ‘Democrats in Congress’ for the present government shutdown’s impact on airport ‘operations’ and for Transportation Security Administration … employees ‘working without pay.'”
“This message will not be just false; it appears to violate the prohibitions contained within the Hatch Act,” wrote Cantwell, who’s a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
Cantwell said recent reports indicate that DHS is using taxpayer dollars and federal assets to supply and air the video, during which Noem appears in her official capability.
The letter notes that Noem, within the video, stands in front of an American flag alongside the official insignia of Homeland Security.
“When viewed in its totality, Secretary Noem’s video can only be reasonably interpreted as a partisan message intended to misleadingly malign the Trump Administration’s political opponents, persuade Americans guilty ‘Democrats in Congress’ for the continued government shutdown, and influence their future votes — all while omitting the incontrovertible fact that Republicans currently control the White House, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House of Representatives,” Cantwell wrote.
“Because the independent agency liable for enforcing the Hatch Act, I urge you to analyze this matter immediately,” she wrote Greer.
DHS didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment on Cantwell’s letter.
A spokesperson for Port of Seattle, which operates the Seattle-Tacoma airport, said Noem’s video was not being played “as a result of the political nature of the content.”
A spokesperson for Portland International Airport in Oregon told CNBC that the airport “didn’t consent to playing the video in its current form, as we imagine the Hatch Act clearly prohibits use of public assets for political purposes and messaging.”
