Ethics watchdog denounces Conway’s endorsement of Ivanka Trump products
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kellyanne Conway, senior adviser to President Donald Trump, watches during a meeting with parents and teachers today in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.
WASHINGTON — White House adviser Kellyanne Conway’s public endorsement of Ivanka Trump’s product line appears to be “a clear violation of the prohibition against misuse of position,” and she should be disciplined, the U.S. government’s chief ethics watchdog wrote this week in a letter to the White House.
Although President Donald Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, said last week that Conway “has been counseled” about her statement, the White House has not clarified what that means. Experts in government ethics say that typically, offenses like Conway’s would result in a letter of reprimand, though it could be grounds for termination. It is up to the head of each agency — in this case, the president — to determine the punishment.
The Office of Government Ethics “has not yet received notification of any disciplinary or other corrective action against Ms. Conway,” Walter M. Shaub Jr., director of the office, wrote in a letter to Stefan C. Passantino, the deputy counsel to the president who is the designated ethics officer at the White House. “There is strong reason to believe that Ms. Conway has violated the standards of conduct and that disciplinary action is warranted,” the letter said.
The ethics office’s letter adds to the troubles piling up on Conway. On Monday, she was dispatched to the television cameras to say that Michael T. Flynn, the national security adviser, had the full confidence of Trump, just hours before he resigned. On Tuesday, she appeared to respond to criticism of her public performances, posting on Twitter that she serves at the pleasure of the president. “His message is my message. His goals are my goals. Uninformed chatter doesn’t matter,” she wrote.
Last week, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, called Conway’s endorsement of Ivanka Trump’s product line “wrong, wrong, wrong,” and he called on the ethics office to investigate. His response was all the more striking given that Chaffetz, a Republican, had brushed off previous calls to investigate Trump or those around him, despite his committee’s broad investigative powers.
Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, markets fashions under her name, and opponents of Donald Trump have called for a boycott of those and other products and services bearing the family name. Nordstrom, the department store chain, said recently that it would no longer carry her products, one of several retailers that have curtailed or ended their business with her line.
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Last week, Donald Trump used Twitter to accuse Nordstrom of treating Ivanka Trump unfairly.
On Thursday, Conway, whose title is counselor to the president, gave an interview to Fox News from the White House briefing room, with the White House insignia visible behind her, defending the president and his daughter.
“Go buy Ivanka’s stuff is what I would say,” she said. “I’m going to give a free commercial here: Go buy it today, everybody; you can find it online.”
Federal ethics rules on conflicts of interest specifically exempt the president and vice president. But for any other executive branch employee, the rules prohibit using public office for personal gain, or “for the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise, or for the private gain of friends, relatives, or persons with whom the employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental capacity.”
Shaub, who was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2013 to a five-year term to head the ethics office, has said that Trump has not gone nearly far enough in separating himself from his business interests.
© 2017 The New York Times Company
15 responses to “Ethics watchdog denounces Conway’s endorsement of Ivanka Trump products”
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only Hillary Clinton could do that as SS and get away with it no letter of reprimand for her endorsements on Clinton foundation. Hillary did worse than kellyanne and nobody complained about that not even the news media.
You did but OBVIOUSLY not with Conway it seems…#MAGA
What Kellyanne Conway said about Ivanka Trump’s clothing line was really very innocent and minimal and it was more of a statement of support.
If you watch the video on what she said it was nothing and hardly merits the attention it has received from the drive by media and those in Congress
and elsewhere who are attempting to derail the Trump presidency. The silver lining from all this drama is that it becomes much more clear as to
who the enemies are including Republicans who are allied with the Washington cabal who want things to remain as they are.
I am very concerned that the threat to Trump is steadily increasing and I do hope that he is taking all the necessary precautions.
He is the problem! Come on all you blind bats get out of your cave. His joke of presidency is over .KABOOM!
The entire administration is a cesspool of conflicts and illegal behavior.
You can pretend that isn’t so, but does it sound like anyone is listening to you? No one is.
Everyone is listening to the whining losers. Trump is getting it done. Just kindly get out of the way or get run over. Cabinet is shaping up nicely. The successful ex Goldman guys are now working for the people.
Hmm, so what’s Trump getting done about Russia’s violation of the INF treaty? What about the latest N. Korean missile launch? And oh, he caved on the unrealistic one-China policy. As for putting the ex-Goldman guys in governmental positions, I guess they’ll do for the government what they did to Wall Street and the middle-class investors. Yup, Trump is shaping up his cabinet nicely by “draining the swamp” and re-filling it with more sludge, slime, and scum. And while he’s at it, Trump and his minions are running over the constitution and any sense of ethics. Wonderful.
They had an intelligence briefing at 10:30 am that morning. At 10:51 Donald sent the tweet criticizing Nordstrom for being mean to his little girl.
HE’S NOT DOING HIS JOB. HE’S TWEETING AND TAKING CREDIT FOR THINGS HE DIDN’T DO.
Trump wants to make America MAGA again!
It was blatant promotion of a private business. If Kellyanne doesn’t have the mental capacity to understand that this is an ethics violation, she shouldn’t be given a government position. The truth is worse: She knew while saying it that she was being unethical, but being part of the Trump administration, she doesn’t care, she doesn’t believe ethics apply to her.
A more interesting theory is that she’s getting tired of her cr*ppy job, unconsciously is doing things that will eventually get her canned. They’ll all be gone soon.
Obama touted all the companies that took Federal money in years past. Same smell. Solar . Auto. Hillary spent two thirds of her SOS time raising money for her foundation of which she earned 250 million income. Of course the other third was spent telling the families of the Benghazi victims that it was a video.
What’s your point???
Don’t change the subject!
Doesn’t the president have more important things to tweet about than the status of his daughter’s clothing line? Isn’t he supposed to be working on behalf of the entire country rather than his daughter’s personal business situation?
He is just teasing the the libtards in his spare time. She can take care of herself.
Yeah, Trump seems to do a lot of teasing via Twitter twits/tweets. He sure seems to have a lot of spare time on his hands despite an incomplete cabinet. Too bad he doesn’t seem to take care of the country as much as his daughter’s business interests. Some illegitimate and so-called president.