The Trump administration is going into federal employee emails and turning their “Out of Office” auto-replies into MAGA screeds blaming the government shutdown on Democrats.
NBC News reports that when the government shutdown went into effect on Wednesday, employees of the Department of Education, headed by former WWE CEO Linda McMahon, were given a standard, non-partisan auto-reply template for their emails. However, that was quickly overwritten by a charged, right-wing rant blaming the government shutdown on the Democrats.
“Thank you for contacting me. On September 10, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution,” reads the new email.
“Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse of appropriations, I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume.”
Five DoE employees spoke to NBC News on the condition of anonymity. Some expressed outrage that the over-written auto-reply puts political rhetoric in their mouths, while others worried that the new reply could potentially put them in violation of the Hatch Act, which imposes limits on political activity by federal employees.
“I took the statement that they sent us earlier in the week to use. And I pasted it on top of [the overwritten statement] — basically as a standard out-of-office,” said an employee who alleges they tried to undo the politically-charged OOO reply, only to have it revert back later.
“They went in and manipulated my out-of-office reply. I guess they’re now making us all guilty of violating the Hatch Act.”
Another employee voiced that they were confident they would not face Hatch Act repercussions, as the message was not written by them.
“Clearly, this wasn’t done by me, it was done while I was in a furlough status, I think I’d be able to argue that point,” they said.
A government employee found to have violated the Hatch Act faces penalties including “removal from federal service, reduction in grade, debarment from federal employment for a period not to exceed 5 years, suspension, reprimand, or a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000.”
The Daily Beast reached out to the Department of Education for comment. An auto-reply email to the Daily Beast’s request contains the same text that appears in the furloughed employees’ auto-reply emails.
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