When we reported on the multiple Hatch Act violations by members of the Trump administration earlier this month, we noted that the offenders could no longer be punished for their actions after having left government service.

But it turns out that one person actually could be liable: Donald Trump. Despite the fact that the President and Vice President are the only two officials normally immune from Hatch Act requirements, there may be a case to be made.

That was the takeaway from a report by Professors Richard Painter and Claire Finkelstein, who argue that the Office of Special Counsel report naming the 13 violators could be the basis for charges against the former president.

[The] OSC finding may be significant for another reason, namely its implications for another Hatch Act complaint we filed, this one a criminal complaint against Donald Trump brought last October with the Department of Justice. Although the president and vice president are immune to the ordinary Hatch Act prohibitions on use of public office for political purposes, there is a separate provision (18 U.S.C. § 610) under which it is a crime for any person to ‘intimidate, threaten, command, or coerce … any employee of the Federal Government … to engage in any political activity.’ Violations are punishable by up to three years in prison.

That means if Merrick Garland, or even a Special Counsel appointed by the AG, found that Trump had ever once asked the people named in the OSC report to commit those violations, he would be guilty under the statute the professors named in their column.

And they provided an outline of how Garland or a Special Counsel might come to that conclusion:

Certainly, there are multiple accounts of Trump exerting precisely this kind of pressure on those in his inner circle. Numerous government officials, from the then head of the FBI, James Comey, to former White House lawyer Don McGahn, as well as state election officials like Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and even Vice President Pence, have experienced the brunt of Trump’s coercive tactics. The pattern of behavior throughout Trump’s presidency suggests that the Hatch Act violations OSC has identified did not occur spontaneously.

It would be sweet justice indeed to see Trump go down for exactly what he’s done in every career he’s ever had — badgering people into doing just what he wants.

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