Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra violated a law that restricts political activities of federal employees when he advocated for the election of Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) at a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute event in the fall, the Office of Special Counsel has determined.

In a letter Tuesday relaying the finding to President Biden, Special Counsel Henry J. Kerner said that Becerra had violated the Hatch Act when he spoke “in his official capacity” at the institute’s annual awards gala in September.

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Under most legal interpretations of the Hatch Act, the president in office at the time is the only person who can take action to fire or reprimand his political appointees when they act illegally.

Becerra would have been allowed to campaign for Padilla if he had spoken in his personal capacity. However, the special counsel determined that Becerra had acted in his official capacity, which is forbidden under the Hatch Act.

As California Attorney General, Becerra spoke out against Republicans in what he claimed was a defense of “election integrity” when the GOP followed Democrats’ example in using legal ballot harvesting in 2020.

Becerra, who had not practiced law for decades, was brought in from the U.S. House to replace Kamala Harris as California’s top law enforcement official when she won a seat in the U.S. Senate.

In 2021, President Joe Biden appointed him to lead HHS, despite the fact that Becerra had no discernible experience in health care or public health. He has largely been invisible since taking office, despite the supposed importance of the coronavirus pandemic in Biden’s list of campaign promises and priorities.

Becerra is responsible for the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which has struggled to house migrants detained at the U.S. southern border.

The Post notes that several Trump administration officials violated the Hatch Act without consequence. Current White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre often cites the Hatch Act when evading political questions.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.