In the middle of an interview, Kellyanne Conway did a spontaneous PR spot for Ivanka Trump to hawk her merchandise on live TV — a violation of federal law.
Trump’s top adviser was answering a question about the president when she deviated from the topic and started talking about Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka, and her experience of helping to run the Trump Organization while also developing a clothing and accessories line bearing her name. Then, after a minute-long buildup, and while Fox & Friends Host Steve Doocy was trying to interject to ask another question, Conway told viewers to “Go buy Ivanka’s stuff.”
Conway appears to have violated a longtime ethics law in which federal employees are barred from using their office to endorse products. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) Director Walter Shaub posted a reminder of the rule to the OGE’s website shortly after Donald Trump tweeted his support for LL Bean as President-elect, encouraging his followers to buy their products. One of the planks of the rule is that executive branch employees are barred from “endorsing any product, service, or company.”
“It is important that every executive branch employee be aware of the rule against misuse of position,” wrote Shaub. “By focusing on this rule and their other basic ethical obligations, employees can truly honor the principle that public service is a public trust.”
Chris Lu, who used to work in the Obama administration’s Department of Labor, tweeted the ethics law at both the OGE and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who is the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
As of this writing, neither Conway nor the Trump administration have responded to the allegations of ethics violations.
Tom Cahill is a writer for US Uncut based in the Pacific Northwest. He specializes in coverage of political, economic, and environmental news. You can contact him via email at tom.v.cahill@gmail.com, or follow him on Facebook.
