This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The Office of Government Ethics recommended on Tuesday that the White House investigate Kellyanne Conway over comments she made about Ivanka Trump’s clothing line.



White House rebukes Kellyanne Conway for promoting Ivanka Trump products Read more

In a letter sent by Walter Shaub, the head of the non-partisan agency, to the White House counsel’s office, he urged “the White House to investigate Ms Conway’s actions and consider taking disciplinary action against her”. Shaub wrote that “there is strong reason to believe” that Conway’s actions “violated the standards of conduct [for federal employees] and that disciplinary action is warranted”. Government employees are prohibited from using their official positions to promote commercial products.

In an appearance on Fox and Friends on 9 February, Conway promoted Ivanka Trump’s branded apparel after Nordstrom, the department store, announced it would no longer carry the president’s daughter’s branded merchandise. “Go buy Ivanka’s stuff, is what I would say. I hate shopping – I’m going to buy stuff today,” said the top White House adviser.

Conway went on to add: “It’s a wonderful line. I own some of it. I’m going to give a free commercial here. Go buy it today, everybody. You can find it online.”

The statement violated government ethics rules and led to Conway being “counseled” in the words of the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer. He declined to give further details.

The letter, copies of which were also sent to the chair of the House oversight and government reform committee, Jason Chaffetz, and to Elijah Cummings, the committee’s ranking Democrat, described Conway’s actions as almost perfectly matching a hypothetical used to illustrate prohibited conduct in government ethics training.

Kellyanne Conway’s White House gaffes: three strikes but not yet out Read more

The letter was sent in response to a query by the two members of Congress after Conway’s original comments, which Chaffetz at the time described as “wrong, wrong, wrong”.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.