Follow up to Government Workers Say Their Out-of-Office Replies Were Forcibly Changed to Blame Democrats for Shutdown – See Also: Mashable: “The U.S. federal government shut down at midnight on Wednesday, bringing a halt to numerous government services after Congress could not agree on a crucial funding bill. Unsurprisingly, the Trump administration was quick to point the finger at its opponents, clearly blaming Democrats for the shutdown. However, it even went so far as to feature its accusations on an official government website, potentially violating the law. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) added a blatantly partisan pop-up notification to its home page, which was also repeated on a bold red banner. “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,” read the prominent message. “The Trump administration wants to keep the government open for the American people.”…

Nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen has filed a Hatch Act complaint against HUD secretary Scott Turner over the popup. “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?'” said Craig Holman, a government ethics expert with Public Citizen…”