Top lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee will order an ethics review of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, after she used a TV appearance to promote merchandise sold by President Trump’s daughter, Ivanka. Conway made the endorsement on Thursday morning’s edition of “Fox & Friends”.
Steve Doocy: “30 seconds.”
Kellyanne Conway: “Go buy Ivanka’s stuff, is what I would tell you. I’m going to—”
Steve Doocy: “Well, there is that—”
Kellyanne Conway: “I hate shopping. I’m going to go get some myself today. … It’s a wonderful line. I own some of it. I fully—I’m going to just give—I’m going to give a free commercial here. Go buy it today, everybody. You can find it online.”
Conway’s comment followed a tweet from President Trump’s official government account Wednesday blasting the retailer Nordstrom for dropping Ivanka Trump’s clothing line from its stores. Trump’s tweet read, “My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person—always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!” Kellyanne Conway’s TV sales pitch is a clear violation a federal ethics law. The White House said it had “counseled” Conway over the endorsement, but declined to say if she would be sanctioned. House Oversight Committee Chair Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah, said Thursday he’ll ask the Office of Government Ethics to recommend Conway be disciplined. Chaffetz told reporters, “That is absolutely wrong, wrong, wrong. It is over the top.”