Sheriff warned by US investigators after flying Trump flag on patrol boat

A sheriff in New York received a warning after a federal investigation into a complaint that his department flew a Trump flag from a government-owned boat in August.

Oswego County Sheriff Don Hilton received the warning from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel in response to a complaint alleging that he violated the Hatch Act (which forbids the use of taxpayer time and money going toward advocacy for a political candidate) on an on-duty patrol boat during an Oneida Lake pro-Trump flotilla on Aug. 2, Syracuse.com reported.

“Please be advised that if you engage in any future prohibited political activity while employed in a Hatch Act-covered position, OSC would consider such activity to be a willful and knowing violation of the law that could result in disciplinary action,” Erica Hamrick, the deputy chief of the Hatch Act Unit, wrote in the letter.