Is the Trump Administration’s Shutdown Messaging Illegal?
As the federal government shutdown entered its second day, the political finger-pointing and bipartisan blame game continued with no compromise in sight. But the Trump administration has ratcheted up the spin, reportedly directing federal agencies to declare on their websites and in their employees’ email messages that Democrats are to blame for the shutdown. Ethics experts warn that the partisan messages may run afoul of federal law. Here’s what we know.
What did the Trump administration do?
As prospects of Congress reaching a deal to fund the government dimmed on Tuesday, a pointed message was spotted on the website homepage for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“The Radical Left are going to shut down the government and inflict massive pain on the American people unless they get their $1.5 trillion wish list of demands. The Trump administration wants to keep the government open for the American people,” it read.
Current banner that greats you if you go to HUD's homepage pic.twitter.com/OrLjbLY9WQ
— Sam Stein (@samstein) September 30, 2025
Once the shutdown was official, the HUD website updated accordingly, changing its banner to read, “The Radical Left in Congress shut down the government. HUD will use available resources to help Americans in need.”
HUD Secretary Scott Turner boasted about the change to the website on social media.
The Radical Left are going to shut down the government and inflict massive pain on the American people unless they get their $1.5 trillion wish list of demands.
— Scott Turner (@SecretaryTurner) September 30, 2025
HUD is working to keep critical services online and support our most vulnerable.https://t.co/7EeEiyxfNu has been… pic.twitter.com/ZMp8DLyUij
Other agencies soon followed suit with their own targeted messaging against Democrats including the Health, Treasury, Agriculture, and State Departments, which featured statements blaming the “Radical Left” or Democrats generally for the shutdown, per the New York Times.
NPR reports that the Small Business Administration passed along “suggested” language for employees’ out-of-office email replies, including the sentence, “I am out of office for the foreseeable future because Senate Democrats voted to block a clean federal funding bill (H.R.5371) leading to a government shutdown” as a possible option. Agency employees also received emails that any lapse in funding would be “forced by Congressional Democrats.”
Furloughed employees with the Department of Education told NBC News that their out-of-office email replies were changed without their knowledge to include partisan rhetoric blaming Democrats for the shutdown.
What do experts say?
Some experts think the overtly political messaging could run afoul of the Hatch Act, a federal law that places specific limits on the political activities of civil employees of the federal government.
Michael Fallings, a federal-employment attorney and managing partner at the law firm Tully Rinckey, told NPR that such direction from the federal government “could be considered a violation of the Hatch Act.”
“Here, while the reference to Democrats alone likely does not constitute a violation, the explicit blaming of the Democratic Party for the shutdown and ‘reference to radical left’ may constitute a violation,” he told the outlet in a statement.
Donald Sherman, the executive director of the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told NBC News that the messaging is likely in violation of the code of conduct for federal employees. “There’s no universe where that is acceptable or advisable under the code of conduct.”
Public Citizen, the consumer advocacy group, has filed complaints against the multiple departments who have adapted this messaging including HUD and the SBA, alleging Hatch Act violations. “This is such an obvious violation of the Hatch Act that it raises the question: ‘How on Earth does HUD think they can get away with this?’ Craig Holman, the group’s government-affairs lobbyist, said in a statement.
How have members of Congress responded?
Appearing on CNN on Tuesday, Democratic Texas representative Jasmine Crockett said that “I think they’re being a lot more illegal in their messaging. The first thing that I wanted to know was, How can this not be a violation of the Hatch Act in some way, right? Because we are not allowed to politic on official sites, period. And that’s what they’re doing,” she said.
On X, Representative Grace Meng of New York wrote, “This message on the HUD website is outrageous! It is also likely illegal. Our federal agencies are supposed to serve Americans in a non-partisan manner, not be political mouthpieces for the President.”
Robert Garcia, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, is calling for an investigation into the Trump administration’s potential Hatch Act violations as well as the “illegal use of government resources to promote a false, partisan Republican political agenda.”