GREENSBORO, N.C. — As soon as it was announced First Lady Melania Trump would give a convention speech from the Rose Garden of the White House, the location became a thorny issue online. Then when President Donald Trump said he'd accept the Republican nomination also from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue the controversy grew with tweets like:
The Hatch Act prevents federal employees from engaging in political activities on the job and in federal buildings. But the U.S. Office of the Special Counsel which oversees the Hatch Act ruled the President and The Vice President are not covered by the Hatch Act. "However White House Employees are covered by the Hatch Act," the memo says.
For example, a White House gardener is not supposed to help set up the convention speech on the lawn. And a White House receptionist can't go outside to watch the speech while working.
President Trump's Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, defended the White House location on CBS This Morning saying he's not the first incumbent president to do this.
"As you know Franklin Delano Roosevelt actually addressed the nation, accepted the nomination during another unprecedented time," Meadows said.
2 Wants To Know's tracked down rare video of FDR giving that speech. It's hard to tell from the grainy footage, but historians confirm he was speaking from the White House in 1940, one year after the Hatch Act was passed.
Republicans have also said in the gauntlet that is 2020, why should something like the location of a speech matter? For an objective perspective, we went to UNCG political science professor Hunter Bacot.
"In the grand scheme of things, it's not a big deal. Where it does become somewhat problematic is because it is the Hatch Act," Bacot said. "It applies to the executive throughout. So, if he flaunts it, others might feel like they can do it too. Where you would have somebody, who works in the Bureau of Land Management. And they would start sending out e-mails to support candidates. You can't do that."
So the experts say you shouldn't rake the Trumps over the coals for speaking from the garden, but it is something unusual.