13 high-level Trump officials violated Hatch Act, using government office for partisan activity, watchdog probe finds - USA TODAY

WASHINGTON - More than a dozen high-level Trump administration officials improperly used their official government powers to try to influence the 2020 election, according to a federal watchdog's investigation released on Tuesday.

Among the 13 officials accused of engaging in illegal campaign activity: President Donald Trump's secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, his acting homeland security chief Chad Wolf and his counselor Kellyanne Conway. 

"Senior Trump administration officials chose to use their official authority not for the legitimate functions of the government, but to promote the reelection of President Trump in violation of the law," the probe found. The federal Hatch Act bars government officials from engaging in partisan political activity.

The investigation was conducted by the federal Office of Special Counsel, which received a stream of ethics complaints during the 2020 election - particularly after Pompeo and Wolf took part in the Republican National Convention. 

The OSC report describes a pervasive willingness to flout the law inside the Trump White House and suggests, in Pompeo's case at least, that the president himself may have encouraged the illegal activity. 

The special counsel offered new details about Pompeo's decision to deliver a speech to the RNC from Israel, which conflicted with State Department policy and violated the Hatch Act.

Before his speech, Pompeo quietly approved a change to the State Department's policy, which "until then had prohibited him and all other political appointees at the State Department from engaging in many partisan political activities, such as addressing a political party convention," the OSC report says.