After Kellyanne Conway broke the law on Thursday by promoting Ivanka Trump’s clothing line on national television, members of both political parties are calling on the Office of Government Ethics to take swift disciplinary action against her.
In a letter to the ethics office, Reps. Jason Chaffetz (Republican) and Elijah Cummings (Democrat) – the top two members of the House Oversight Committee – argued that Conway was using her position to financially benefit Donald Trump’s daughter, which is unlawful.
The full letter via NBC News:
Jason Chaffetz: Kellyanne Conway’s statements about Ivanka Trump fashion line “appear to violate federal ethics regulations” pic.twitter.com/rCFDIIsFER
— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 9, 2017
In a rare display of bipartisanship, Chaffetz and Cummings wrote that “Conway’s statements clearly violate the ethical principles for federal employees and are unacceptable.”
The statements the congressmen are referring to took place this morning on Fox News:
Kellyanne Conway on Fox News urged viewers to “go buy Ivanka’s stuff” — potentially violating federal law: https://t.co/626kB23GwP pic.twitter.com/xkXP9DqT8u
— Media Matters (@mmfa) February 9, 2017
Chaffetz and Cummings also urged Ethics Director Walter Shaub to punish Conway, saying that Trump himself doesn’t have the capacity to do so because the case poses an “inherent conflict of interest” for him.
Not to mention the fact that, just yesterday, the president was essentially doing a version of what Conway did today when he lashed out at Nordstrom for dropping his daughter’s clothing line.
So, the bad news: The White House has so many business entanglements – many of which we as Americans aren’t even aware of – that they can barely utter more than a syllable without finding themselves violating an ethics rule.
The good news: At least today, members of both political parties were willing to put aside partisanship – miracles do happen, folks – and hold the administration accountable for violating the law.
Going forward, we can only hope they continue to do so, because this certainly won’t be the last ethics breach by this White House.
