U.S. President Donald Trumpâs senior counselor Kellyanne Conway may have just broken a federal ethics rule after she publicly promoted Ivanka Trumpâs fashion line during a televised interview on Thursday morning.
Speaking to the hosts of âFox & Friendsâ about U.S. department store Nordstrom dropping the Ivankaâs clothing and accessory line and public calls to boycott her products, Conway defended the presidentâs daughter. She described Ivanka as a âchampion for women empowerment, women in the workplaceâ before she made a direct appeal to her audience.
âGo buy Ivankaâs stuff,â Conway declared. âItâs a wonderful line. I own some of it. Iâm going to give a free commercial here, go buy it today everybody. You can find it online.â
In response to the counselorâs comments, the ethics watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) (OGE) and White House Counselâs Office on Thursday.
The group called on the offices to investigate âthis apparent violation of federal law, ethics regulations, and other standards of conductâ and to take necessary disciplinary action.
âThe law is clear that public officials should not use their offices for their own private gain or the private gain of others,â CREWâs executive director, Noah Bookbinder, stated in a press release on Thursday. âItâs hard to find a clearer case of that kind of misuse of office than we saw today.â
The president is not subject to ethics standards for federal employees, but Conway is, however. that an âemployee shall not use his public office for his own private gain for the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise, or for the personal gain of friends, relatives, or persons with whom the employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental capacity.â
In addition to CREWâs formal complaint, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Elijah Cummings, requested an ethics review of Conwayâs comments for âpotential disciplinary action.â
, Cummings wrote that Conwayâs televised pitch âappears to be a textbook violation of government ethics laws.â He also recommended the Committee make an official referral to the OGE about whether Conway broke ethics laws because it has direct jurisdiction over White House employees.
Under a section of regulations called âCorrective Action Involving Individual Employees,â the OGE can recommend disciplinary actions such as, suspension, loss of pay and even removal.
During a press briefing on Thursday afternoon, White House press secretary and communications director, Sean Spicer, would only say that Conway had been âcounselledâ when he was asked about the Fox interview.
âSheâs been counselled on that subject and thatâs it,â Spicer said.
The Conway controversy comes a day after Trump raised eyebrows by tweeting that his daughter had been treated âunfairlyâ by Nordstrom. Although the president has tweeted about other companies such as, Boeing, Carrier and General Motors in the past, the Nordstrom tweet has been viewed as a potential conflict of interest because it involves his daughter.
âMy daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person -- always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!â the president wrote.
My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by . She is a great person -- always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!
â Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
Trumpâs tweet prompted his supporters to declare their support for Ivankaâs business by using the hashtag #BuyIvanka, which was trending on Wednesday.
Stand with Ivanka Trump!
â Texas Lone Star (@SouthLoneStar)
We will never shop at
Critics also made use of the hashtag, with at least one tweet highlighting the overseas origin of some of the brandâs products.
Make America Great Again.
â Jason Sparks (@sparksjls)
The Trump administration has faced repeated criticism for an apparent lack of concern over possible conflicts of interest over his personal business empire. In the complaint filed by CREW, Bookbinder called Conwayâs comments another example of âa disturbing patternâ in Trumpâs White House.
âAmericans are unfortunately at the point where they have to question who the Trump administration is looking out for, the American people or the Trump family,â Bookbinder said.