The federal Architect of the Capitol is under scrutiny for ethics violations after apparently using his office to give “patriotic” private tours in the weeks leading up to the contentious elections of November 2020.
The Washington Post is reporting that Trump appointee J. Brett Blanton is now being investigated by the federal Inspector General’s office for allegedly using his office to give family members access to government-owned vehicles and areas of the capitol building that had been restricted due to Covid-19.
The office’s report identified “a significant amount of administrative, ethical, and policy violations as well as evidence of criminal violations throughout the investigation,” including several incidents where Blanton misrepresented himself as a police officer (a class misdemeanor under District of Columbia law) in addition to a campaign of “fraud, waste, and abuse against not only the AOC but also the taxpayer.”
Blanton came to the office in 2020 after a 22-year stint in the U.S. Navy’s Civil Engineer Corps and subsequent turn as the Deputy Vice President for Engineering for the District’s Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. As part of the appointment, Blanton will serve a 10-year term. He has yet to issue a public statement in response to the investigation, though several key lawmakers, including Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy (who sits on the Senate’s Judiciary Committee), Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan (the co-Legislative Branch subcommittee chair), and Senate Rules and Administration chair Amy Klobuchar, have been calling for his resignation since the first publication of the report on Tuesday.
So far, the U.S. Attorney and Eastern District Court of Virginia have declined to press charges. The Inspector General’s office has said they will attempt to bring a case in front of the IRS as well as in Virginia’s state courts system and will refer the matter to the Congressional oversight committee for further investigation. The Architect of the Capitol serves at the discretion of the President and can, therefore, only be removed by Biden unless Blanton chooses to resign.
4 Comments
There won't be any charges. It appears that unless the National Archives is involved, the Executive branch will turn a blind eye to wanton criminality
I’m looking forward to the coming charges after the midterms for the wanton criminality of the biden admin.
What specific "wanton" criminal acts will they be prosecuted for? Please elucidate.
Left or right, if someone is acting unethically and the taxpayers are paying their salary, they should be fired at least and jailed, with a fine equally to what they took, at best.
Lock him up.
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