'None of us consented': Federal workers say Trump 'making us all guilty' of violating law

President Donald Trump in the White House on June 11, 2025 (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian/Flickr)

The Trump administration is being accused of manipulating the email messages of Department of Education civil service employees who say that — without their knowledge or consent — their out-of-office messages during the shutdown were altered and became partisan, a possible violation of the Hatch Act.

Emails were changed to “include partisan talking points that blamed a government shutdown on Democrats,” according to NBC News.

“None of us consented to this. And it’s written in the first-person, as if I’m the one conveying this message, and I’m not. I don’t agree with it. I don’t think it’s ethical or legal. I think it violates the Hatch Act,” one person told NBC.

“They went in and manipulated my out-of-office reply. I guess they’re now making us all guilty of violating the Hatch Act,” another Education Department employee said.

The emails reportedly were changed to read: “Thank you for contacting me. On September 10, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse of appropriations, I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume.”

Employees who spoke to NBC News said even after they changed their out-of-office message back to the original, they were automatically altered again.

NBC News added it had reported on Wednesday “that some employees at federal agencies were being offered partisan language blaming Democrats for the shutdown to use as their out-of-office messages. A number of federal websites also now display language going after Democrats or the ‘radical left.'”

Calling the administration’s actions “an unusually overt show of partisan messaging,” Politico reported that some ethics experts say that they may violate federal law.

In addition to out-of-office email messages, a “deluge of statements bashing Democrats began hours before the shutdown Tuesday with a single red pop-up posted to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s website. ‘The radical left are going to shut down the government,’ the page read.”

A banner atop the Department of Justice’s website currently reads: “Democrats have shut down the government.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s website states: “Due to the Radical Left Democrat shutdown, this government website will not be updated during the funding lapse. President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people.”

Democrats are calling for an investigation.

“House Oversight Committee ranking member Robert Garcia (D-CA) sent a letter Thursday demanding an investigation into the use of federal websites to promote Republican political points during the government shutdown,” the Washington Examiner reported. “The letter cites the Hatch Act, which imposes restrictions on political activity by the federal government.”

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