Federal ethics investigators will audit the political conduct of Department of Labor Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito, a former Long Island congressman accused of allowing partisan loyalties to affect his responsibilities as an impartial internal watchdog.
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel has “accepted the matter for review,” Newsday first reported Thursday, citing a letter sent this week to the nonprofit watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. CREW filed the initial complaint against D’Esposito in April.
D’Esposito bristled when asked about the investigation, calling CREW a group of “political hacks” hawking “bogus nonsense.”
“It’s bullshit,” he told The Washington Sun Thursday evening. “I’ll keep exposing fraud and fighting for American workers.”
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The ethics complaint against D’Esposito, who was appointed to the position last year by President Donald Trump, stems from a series of politically slanted social media posts the inspector general published using his official Labor Department X account.
He purportedly used the account to praise the president’s immigration and economic policies and congratulate him for his war efforts in Iran. In the April complaint, CREW chief executive Donald Sherman also pointed to numerous instances when D’Esposito accepted explicit direction from Trump and other administration officials.
“During his tenure as inspector general, D’Esposito has blurred the lines between official and political activities,” Sherman wrote.
The DOL inspector general is responsible for investigating fraud, waste and misconduct within the department and is legally required to remain objective and isolated from political pressures.
If the Office of Special Counsel finds that D’Esposito has flaunted objectivity standards, he could be fined, removed from office or face criminal prosecution for violating the Hatch Act’s prohibitions against partisan activity.
Sherman also implored the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency to act. D’Esposito said in a statement to Newsday that the council — another group that oversees integrity complaints against cross-agency inspectors general — is “taking no further action.”
Representatives from the council and the OSC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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