Opinion

Deep State At FEC Quits: ‘Looks Like The Republic Might Survive’

Credit: Shutterstock/Mark Van Scyoc

Rudy Takala Contributor
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A Twitter account associated with the Federal Election Commission’s “deep state” announced on Wednesday that it was going to give up efforts to subvert the Trump administration.

The account said in a tweet: “657 days and 50,000 followers into the effort, it’s time to close up shop at @alt_fec. The midterms are done and it looks like the Republic just might survive this crisis. We have been called to #resist in other ways.”

The anonymous account, altFEC, was established in January 2017 and has been tied to Democratic Commissioner Ellen Weintraub’s office.

RED OAK, IA – NOVEMBER 04: Voters get an ‘I VOTED TODAY’ sticker after casting their ballots on election day at the Red Oak Fire Department November 4, 2014 in Red Oak, Iowa. According to the polls, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joni Ernst is in a neck-and-neck race with Democratic candidate Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA), and the election in Iowa could decide which party controls the U.S. Senate. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Describing itself as “the unofficial resistance team of the U.S. Federal Election Commission,” the account sent more than 2,600 tweets criticizing Republican FEC commissioners and President Trump — among others — saying FEC Republicans had given Trump “a pass on soliciting foreign contributions.”

The account also criticized Fox News viewers and called for cable companies to drop the network.

“The more people watch #FoxNews, the less well-informed they are about basic facts,” it said in a Jan. 29 tweet. “Arguably, FOX is tearing at the fabric of our democracy. They have a 1st Amendment right to exist, but not to be carried by cable companies. So: Why do cable companies carry it?”

Despite the anonymous attacks — and a background image displaying a “resist ” banner — altFEC spurned the “deep state” label often applied to anti-Trump federal bureaucrats, writing: “Is there a #deepstate? Doubtful. Far more likely is that public servants who deeply believe in their duty to their country are independently exercising their #FirstAmendment rights to speak truth to power. Trump’s [people] keep forgetting that feds are US citizens.”

The Hatch Act and agency rules prohibit federal employees from engaging in political activity using government resources, so it isn’t clear whether rules were broken in the event one or more federal workers operated the account.

In a series of 2017 tweets responding to an op-ed in The Daily Caller, the account insisted it was acting in compliance with federal guidelines. “If we swear to God that none of us are FEC commissioners … not ever tweeted on government time … and never on government property, will you allow us to assert our First Amendment rights to criticize our government in peace? Because we have a country to save.”

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