US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the Congress Center in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, October 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper/Pool
A longtime lawmaker and former diplomat flagged how illegal a recent move at the State Department is this week.
The Washington Sun reported Thursday that the State Department has begun asking career diplomats up for promotion whether they voted for President Donald Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024.
Washington Sun reporter Eric Katz explained that "federal law prohibits politically based hiring for career staff."
According to the report, "Top officials in the State Department made clear that only candidates who voted for President Donald Trump would be eligible for the mid-to-upper level foreign service roles. They also told candidates that their campaign donation history would be examined and any donation to Democrats would be disqualifying."
The report comes on the heels of another revelation that the State Department is trying to shove out the top career staff, leaving a huge void of experience and longtime foreign relationships.
According to some, senior State Department officials are outright asking longtime employees to retire. Others "have been reassigned other top career staff into the Administration Bureau, what employees consider to be a 'purgatory' where employees’ careers 'go to die.'"
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has been following the allegations.
“These are critical national security positions and individuals should be chosen for their experience and ability, not their political loyalty. We are working with the House and other relevant committees to thoroughly investigate all such claims," she said.
Former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), who also served as a diplomat and assistant secretary of state for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, posted on X that all of this is illegal.
"Asking career officers how they voted is not just wrong — it violates the Hatch Act. Those doing it may be investigated by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, fired, and/or fined," said Malinowski. "There is no statute of limitations — so the next administration can go after them."
One of the biggest problems with the Hatch Act, however, is that it outlines possible penalties but does not impose one automatic punishment, such as firing, for every violation. If a Trump appointee has already left the administration, firing them isn't a punishment. A civil fine, however, could be. The president could not pardon a Hatch Act violation as it is classified as civil administrative infraction, explained the Brookins Institute.
Malinowski said that any future administration could impose a penalty for a Hatch Act violation on a Trump appointee, but the firing from office likely wouldn't matter if they were already gone. A civil fine could be issued, but the maximum is $1,000; however, it outlines that the penalty is "adjusted for inflation." The Hatch Act was first passed into law in 1939. The Bureau of Labor Statistics offers a CPI Inflation Calculator.
