The Counselor gets counseled! Kellyanne gets slap-on-the-wrist from White House after she shamelessly tells Americans to 'Go buy Ivanka's stuff' during TV interview after Nordstrom pulled plug on her label

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White House counselor Kellyanne Conway has been 'counseled' after urging Americans to buy Ivanka Trump products during a TV interview that she herself said was a 'free commercial' for the president's daughter.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer addressed the issue hours after Conway delivered a TV interview where she promoted Ivanka Trump's products, following Nordstrom's decision to stop carrying her products.  

'Kellyanne has been counseled and that's all we're going to go with,' Spicer said when asked about the shilling during the daily White House briefing.

'She's been counseled on that subject and that – that's it,' he added sheepishly. 

Spicer didn't provide further information on who might have provided counsel to Conway, but he may have been referring to White House lawyers or other government officials who provide guidance on ethical conduct. 

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told Americans, 'Go buy Ivanka's stuff is what I would tell you' in an interview conducted from the White House

Conway urged Americans to 'buy Ivanka's stuff' during a televised interview from the same briefing room space Thursday morning, in an overt pitch meant to help president's family's business from a top government official.

Conway was responding to questions about Nordstrom's decision to dump Ivanka Trump's clothing line while facing a boycott movement that picked up steam after the president's immigration order, after the president blasted the move online.

'Go buy Ivanka's stuff is what I would tell you. I hate shopping. I'm going to go get some myself today,' Conway, who is a counselor to the president, told Fox & Friends Thursday morning.

Then she vouched for the quality of the items being taken off the shelves of the high-end retailer.

Cheap: Clearance and sale items from Ivanka Trump's brand line of shoes and accessories are seen in a Manhattan Nordstrom Rack store in January (above)

Nordstrom did not mention the #GrabYourWallet boycott when it announced its decision

'It's a wonderful line. I own some of it. I'm going to give a free commercial here. Go buy it today, everybody. You can find it online,' she said.

Her unabashed marketing for the president's daughter's product line came despite a provision of federal law that bars government employees from pitching products.

According to one section of the Code of Federal Regulations, 'An employee shall not use his public office for his own private gain, 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, including nonprofit organizations of which the is an officer or member, and persons with whom the employee has or seeks employment or business relations.'

The Code of Federal Regulations says federal employees can't offer 'the endorsement of any product'

Another section dealing with federal employees states that 'an employee shall not use or permit the use of his Government position or title or any authority associated with his public office in a manner that could reasonably be construed to imply that his or the Government sanctions or endorses his personal activities or those of another.'

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington immediately filed a complaint with the Office of Government Ethics.

Conway was scheduled to appear on Fox for a live interview at 7 pm Thursday on Trump's first 100 Days, where she was likely to have to clean up the comments, which caused an immediate uproar. 

Conway said Thursday morning she had 'visited' with the Ivanka Trump Wednesday, and appeared to keep alive the possibility of her joining the White House.

 'This is a very successful businesswoman twice,' she said, referencing her work as an executive for the Trump Organization, which she relinquished after her father won the presidency. 

'On the side she developed another fully unbelievably entrepreneurial wildly successful business that bears her name and I think she's gone from 800 stores to 1,000 stores or a 1,000 places that you can buy' Conway said. 'You can certainly buy her goods online,' she added, in another pitch.

'She's just in a very good place. She's an incredibly confident creative talented woman who also supports her father's presidency and realizes there are bigger issues that he's going to tackle if she decides and it works for her family and she comes inside the White House here she knows people like Dina Powell and me will be working with her to work to help on women empowerment, women and girls,' Conway said, referencing another White House aide.

She went after the chain indirectly by saying 'executives' were going after 'the most prominent woman' in Trump's circle.

'I do find it ironic that you've got some executives all over the internet bragging about what they've done to her and her line and, yet, they're using the most prominent woman in Donald Trump's — you know, most prominent — she's his daughter, and they're using her, who has been a champion for women empowerment, women in the workplace to get to him,' said.

President Donald Trump (left) came to the defense of his eldest daughter Ivanka Trump (right) whose clothing line was dropped by Nordstrom last week 

President Donald Trump lashed out this morning at Nordstrom for dumping his daughter Ivanka Trump's clothing and shoe line 

'I think people could see through that.'

Fox co-host Steve Doocey introduced the interview spot by saying Conway was doing the interview from the White House 'because we've got some lousy weather here in the northeast.'

Conway spoke from the White House briefing room, which is located in the West Wing just steps from the Oval Office.  

Ethics expert Rich Eisen, who was a to ethics lawyer in the Obama White House, responded to the pitch. 'It is an example of why Donald Trump and his family needed to step away, needed to make a more definitive break,' he told MSNBC.

'And I think it's an abuse of the office of the presidency. He's putting the bully in the bully pulpit.'

Whether Conway could actually be sanctioned for violating ethics rules is uncertain. She could be subject to loss of pay – but that determination would be made by the White House.

Don W. Fox, former general counsel of the Office of Government Ethics, told The Washington Post that 'Conway's encouragement to buy Ivanka's stuff would seem to be a clear violation of rules prohibiting misuse of public office for anyone's private gain.'

He called her plug 'jaw-dropping to me,' adding: 'This rule has been promulgated by the federal Office of Government Ethics as part of the Standards of Conduct for all executive branch employees and it applies to all members of the armed forces as well.'

But enforcement is typically left to the official's agency, which in Conway's case means the White House would have to decide whether to sanction her for promoting the product line of the president's daughter.

A lawyer told the paper a typical federal employee who broke the rule could face a multi-day suspension from work and loss of pay.

President Donald Trump lashed out at the retailer Nordstrom on Wednesday morning for dumping his daughter's clothing line. 

'My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by Nordstrom,' the president wrote. 'She is a great person – always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!' 

The tweet came at 10:51 a.m., 21 minutes after the president's daily intelligence briefing was to start, and was later retweeted by the official @POTUS White House account. 

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer defended President Trump's comment later in the day, saying that he was responding to 'an attack on his daughter.'

Spicer also implied that the Seattle-based retailer made the decision to drop Ivanka's line because they did not agree with President Trump's ban on immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations entering the country. 

But on Wednesday Nordstrom revealed in a statement to DailyMail.com that Ivanka was personally told about its decision in early January - weeks before the travel ban.

'To reiterate what we've already shared when asked, we made this decision based on performance,' read the statement. 'Over the past year, and particularly in the last half of 2016, sales of the brand have steadily declined to the point where it didn't make good business sense for us to continue with the line for now.'

The statement went on to read: 'We've had a great relationship with the Ivanka Trump team. We've had open conversations with them over the past year to share what we've seen and Ivanka was personally informed of our decision in early January.' 

In his press conference today, Spicer went on to justify Trump's tweet. 'He has every right to stand up for his family and applaud their business activities, their success,' said Spicer. 

'So, look, when it comes to his family I think he's been very clear how proud he is of what they do and what they've accomplished. And for someone to take out their concern with his policies on a family member of his is just, is not acceptable. And the president has every right, as a father, to stand up for them.' 

Spicer was later asked how Ivanka could be targeted seeing as she made the decision to step down from her eponymous fashion company last month, just before moving to Washington DC.

'I think there's clearly a targeting of her brand, and it's her name still out there. So while she's not directly running the company, it's still her name on it,' said Spicer. 

'And there's clearly efforts that – to undermine that name based on her father's positions on particular policies, that he's taken.'

Spicer went on to state: 'This is a direct attack on his policies and her name. And so that – there's clearly an attempt for him to stand up for her, because she is being maligned, because they have a problem with his policies.'

He also stated that Trump was free at the time he sent the tweet this morning and not still in his intelligence briefing, which had begun 21 minutes earlier at 10:30am. 

Nordstrom's shares took a brief dip shortly after Trump made his tweet, but then climbed two points by the day's close, possibly as a result of the attention he gave them.

Nordstrom's shares took a brief dip after Trump's tweet, but finished the day two points up

That breaks the trend made by previous Trump tweets that saw stock for Lockheed Martin, Toyota and General Motors dropping after being blasted by the president.

Kimberly Whitler, a marketing professor at the University of Virginia, told The Washington Post that since Trump can't withhold government contracts - as he could with Lockheed Martin - or affect the whole industry - as he can with cars - his latest tweet packs less of a punch.

And, she says, people might just be getting used to his fiery rants.

'At some point, with the velocity of Trump's tweets, it's likely that investors may become more 'numb' to his tweets and react in a more muted fashion,' she said. 

The presidents of Nordstrom sent an email criticizing President Donald Trump's ban on immigrants from seven nations entering the United States just days before the retail giant announced they had dropped Ivanka's clothing line.

In the note, brothers Peter, Erik, and Blake Nordstrom told employees of the company that they would do all they could to help those who might be impacted by the ban while celebrating the many things the immigrant community have contributed to the retailer over the years.

The Nordstrom brothers also pointed out that the company was founded by an immigrants, their great grandfather John.

Two days later, the Seattle-based retailer announced that they would no longer be carrying Ivanka Trump's line of clothing, handbags, shoes and accessories.

A spokesperson for Nordstrom told Dailymail.com, 'We sent the email to our people to offer support and services if they were affected by the order. 

'The decision to move away from the Ivanka Trump brand for the upcoming season was made as a result of the brand's business performance over the past year. For us, the two decisions were not related.'

The retailer then further clarified by revealed they had informed Ivanka of the decision in early January  

Bargain bin: Ivanka shoes were being sold at Nordstrom Rack for close to 50 percent off, which seemed to confirm that sales were down

The company previously released a statement explaining why they made the decision to drop Ivanka's line. 

'We've said all along we make buying decisions based on performance. We've got thousands of brands – more than 2,000 offered on the site alone,' a statement from the company read. 

'Reviewing their merit and making edits is part of the regular rhythm of business,' it continued. 'Each year we cut about 10 percent and refresh our assortment with about the same amount.' 

'In this case, based on the brand's performance we've decided not to buy it for this season,' the statement said. 

Not mentioned was the #GrabYourWallet boycott that may also have had a hand in Nordstrom's decision to cancel ordering any more of Ivanka Trump's line. 

The #GrabYourWallet campaign targets companies that do business with the Trump family, letting consumers know where not to take their dollars if they are against some of the statements President Trump has made about women in the past.

Additionally, it names companies whose board members donated to President Trump's campaign. 

The campaign was started in response to the now infamous 2005 Access Hollywood hot mic audio that was released back in October in which President Trump was caught bragging about sexually assaulting women and detailed his attempt to bed a married television personality. 

That has caused headaches for companies like L.L. Bean, which saw its name added to the boycott because one family member donated to a Trump-aligned political action committee. 

The chairman of the board begged off the boycott, saying the large Bean family doesn't hold a political stance. 

Its name remains on the list.  

The president tweeted his support for them as well.

'Thank you to Linda Bean of L.L.Bean for your great support and courage. People will support you even more now. Buy L.L.Bean,' Trump tweeted in January. 

So far, Nordstrom remains part of the boycott, as organizers say the retailer won't be let off the hook until all the existing Ivanka Trump products sell out.