Ethics office recommends White House investigate Conway's Nordstrom remarks
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Office of Government Ethics has recommended that White House counselor Kellyanne Conway be investigated by the White House for comments she made on television, in which she urged people to buy products from Ivanka Trump’s clothing line.
In a letter dated Monday, and released by the Democrats on the House Oversight committee's Twitter account Tuesday, the office found that Conway committed a “clear violation” when she urged viewers to buy from Ivanka’s clothing line after it had been dropped by Nordstrom.
“Go buy Ivanka’s stuff … 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,” Conway said on "Fox & Friends" Thursday, standing in front of the podium in the White House briefing room.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer later said Conway had been “counseled” on her remarks after bipartisan criticism and claims her remarks violated ethics rules.
The letter says there is "strong reason to believe that Ms. Conway has violated the Standards of Conduct and that disciplinary action is warranted.”
The Office of Government Ethics says it has not received any notification of any disciplinary action against Conway by the White House, and consequently says it “recommend[s] that the White House investigate Ms. Conway’s actions and consider taking disciplinary action against her.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The letter was sent to President Trump’s deputy White House counsel, Susan Passantino, and was copied to White House counsel Don McGahn, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Elijah Cummings, D-Md. Cummings and Chaffetz are both on the House Oversight Committee and had referred the case to the Office of Government Ethics last week.
After the controversy erupted, Conway told Fox News that she had the support of the president.
"I am just really happy that I spent a lot of time with the president of the United States this afternoon and that he supports me 100 percent," Conway told Fox News' Martha MacCallum Thursday. "All I can say to women, American women at some point in your life you ought to have a boss who treated me the way that the president of the United States treated me today."