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.
This is the federal ethics law that @KellyannePolls just violated
cc: @OfficeGovEthics @jasoninthehouse
As of this writing, neither Conway nor the Trump administration have responded to the allegations of ethics violations.
You have to ask yourself, where are all the Republicans. Are they all just pretending not to see the corruption? Is there something wrong with the Republican perception of the world? Do they blindly believe everything they are told and not think.
It could be that would mean admitting they were wrong when they propelled that Trump to the Whitehouse. Would they would rather see the world burn than admit they are wrong?
As this article demonstrates, what is happening is not a Trump item, it is a Republican Party issue and those who are supporting them. The administration is more than just Donald Trump. Everyone who turns a blind eye, apologies, makes excuses, lies is responsible.
It is a REPUBLICAN item and if the leaders in the Republican party are not careful, the party is going to implode and self destruct.