Senior White House aide Kellyanne Conway has been “counseled” after appearing to violate federal ethics rules by promoting Ivanka Trump’s clothing line during a television appearance, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday.
“Kellyanne has been counseled on that subject,” Spicer told reporters, and decline to elaborate.
Conway appeared on “Fox & Friends” Thursday to discuss President Donald Trump’s social media outrage at Nordstrom’s for scaling back its stock of Ivanka Trump merchandise due to what it claimed were declining sales. “Go buy Ivanka’s stuff,” Conway said. “I’m going to give it a free commercial here.”
Ethics and legal experts pointed out that, in doing so, Conway had violated federal ethics rules prohibiting public officials from using their positions “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.”
Conway could yet end up receiving more than just “counseling”. Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R., Utah) and Elijah Cummings (D., Md.), the top lawmakers on the House oversight committee, are reportedly preparing to refer the matter to the Office of Government Ethics.
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