By Jan Wolfe

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – A U.S. government agency said Tuesday that 13 former president Donald Trump administration officials violated a law restricting political campaigning by employees. They were accused of creating a tax-funded campaign apparatus within the White House.

In a 65-page report https://osc.gov/News/Pages/21-02-Hatch-Act-Report-RNC.aspx, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) identified instances in which Trump advisers including Jared Kushner and Kellyanne Conway used their official authority to promote Trump’s 2020 presidential election campaign.

Trump spokeswoman did not immediately reply to my request for comment.

OSC stated that discipline is no longer possible because Trump’s officials are out of office. However, it said the report was being issued to raise enforcement issues and deter further violations.

OSC stated in a press release that they concluded the findings together. “Taken all, it shows that violations show both the willingness of some in Trump’s administration to leverage executive power in order to promote President Trump’s reelection”

“This failure to impose discipline created the conditions for what appeared to be a taxpayer-funded campaign apparatus within the upper echelons of the executive branch,” OSC wrote in the report.

OSC, an independent federal watchdog in the U.S. government, investigates Hatch Act violations. This law restricts federal employees’ political participation.

After Trump’s decision to host the 2020 Republican National Convention at his White House, an investigation began and the report became the final product of that investigation.

Trump’s press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was also found guilty of violating the Hatch Act. Stephen Miller, senior advisor Stephen Miller and Chad Wolf, Department of Homeland Security Secretary, were among those who were also found guilty.

The report revealed that both Wolf and Pompeo ignored warnings by career ethics officers about the possibility of violating the Hatch Act by appearing at the convention.