Donald Trump: Ethics office urges action against Kellyanne Conway for peddling Ivanka Trump products
Posted
The US Office of Government Ethics says the White House should consider disciplinary action against presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway for appearing to violate government ethics rules by publicly endorsing Ivanka Trump products.
Key points:
- Ethics Director says Conway's incident is nearly example of how not to behave
- The ethics office has little power but can formally recommend discipline
- Trump also attacked Nordstrom, but the ethics rules do not apply to the President
In a letter dated Monday and addressed to a White House ethics official, the ethics office asked President Donald Trump's administration to investigate the incident and gave it two weeks to provide its findings and detail any disciplinary steps taken.
Ms Conway, Mr Trump's presidential campaign manager and now a senior adviser, told Americans on Fox News that they should "go buy Ivanka's stuff" after retailer Nordstrom announced it was dropping the branded line of Ivanka Trump, the president's older daughter.
Federal ethics rules prohibit executive branch employees from using their positions to endorse products.
"There is strong reason to believe that Ms Conway has violated the Standards of Conduct and that disciplinary action is warranted," Office of Government Ethics Director Walter Shaub wrote in the letter.
Stefan Passantino, the White House ethics official named in the letter, declined to comment, and a White House spokesman did not reply to a request for comment.
The US ethics office, however, has little enforcement power.
It can formally recommend disciplinary action if the White House does not act — Mr Shaub said in a separate letter to two US legislators who sought a review of Ms Conway's remarks — but that recommendation would not be binding, and the process would take until late April or early May.
Ethics rules on endorsements do not apply to Trump
If the ethics office does formally recommend discipline, it would still be up to the White House to decide any steps against Ms Conway.
Norman Eisen, who was ethics chief under President Barack Obama, said Congress also could call hearings or subpoena documents if the White House did not act.
Mr Trump himself earlier attacked Nordstrom for dropping his daughter's brand — the ethics rules that bar endorsements do not apply to the President, though critics said his comments were inappropriate.
Nordstrom said it made the decision because sales had steadily declined, especially in the last half of 2016, to where carrying the line "didn't make good business sense."
In his letter to the White House, Mr Shaub wrote that his office's regulatory guidelines include an example violation in which a hypothetical presidential appointee promotes a product in a television commercial.
He said Ms Conway's remarks closely mirrored that example of what not to do.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said last week that Conway had been "counselled," but Mr Shaub wrote that the Office of Government Ethics had not been informed of any corrective steps.
Reuters
Topics: donald-trump, ethics, united-states
