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 investigate 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 government shutdown.
The Hatch Act bars federal employees, including Cabinet secretaries, from engaging in political activity while acting in their official role.
Multiple major airports have refused to show Noem’s video near passenger screening lines, including Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Cantwell’s home state of Washington, as well as airports in Chicago and New York.
A number of airports specifically mentioned the video’s potential violation of the Hatch Act in their decision. The Office of Special Counsel is responsible 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 — in which she erroneously blames ‘Democrats in Congress’ for the current government shutdown’s impact on airport ‘operations’ and for Transportation Security Administration … employees ‘working without pay.'”
“This message is not just false; it appears to violate the prohibitions contained in the Hatch Act,” wrote Cantwell, who is 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 produce and air the video, in which Noem appears in her official capacity.
The letter notes that Noem, in 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, convince Americans to blame ‘Democrats in Congress’ for the ongoing government shutdown, and influence their future votes — all while omitting the fact that Republicans currently control the White House, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House of Representatives,” Cantwell wrote.
“As the independent agency responsible for enforcing the Hatch Act, I urge you to investigate this matter immediately,” she wrote Greer.
DHS didn’t immediately respond 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 “due to the political nature of the content.”
A spokesperson for Portland International Airport in Oregon told CNBC that the airport “did not consent to playing the video in its current form, as we believe the Hatch Act clearly prohibits use of public assets for political purposes and messaging.”
