The White House said Thursday that President Donald Trump “absolutely” continues to support his top adviser Kellyanne Conway after she promoted his daughter Ivanka Trump’s clothing and accessories line in a TV interview.
A spokesperson said that Trump did not see Conway’s interview but “understands she was merely sticking up for a wonderful woman who she has great respect for and felt was treated unfairly,” according to the Associated Press.
The President “fully supports his daughter,” the spokesperson said, per the report.
In an appearance Thursday morning on Fox News, Conway urged viewers to “go buy Ivanka’s stuff.”
“I’m going to give a free commercial here,” she said. “Go buy it today, everybody, you can find it online.”
Here is @KellyannePolls, the counselor to @POTUS, telling people to buy the president’s daughter’s merchandise.
“Go buy Ivanka’s stuff.” pic.twitter.com/MP1gHRHs6W
— Tom Namako (@TomNamako) February 9, 2017
House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Ranking Member Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) wrote in a joint letter to the White House and Office of Government Ethics that Conway’s remarks “clearly violate the ethical principles for federal employees and are unacceptable.”
They also wrote that Trump “has an inherent conflict of interest” when it comes to Conway’s promotion, as her comments were related to the President’s daughter’s business.
Liberal government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint over Conway’s comments with the Office of Government Ethics and the White House Counsel’s Office on Thursday.
The group alleged that she violated regulations barring federal employees from endorsing products and broke a law barring the use of federal funds for non-official purposes.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in his daily briefing that Conway was “counseled on that subject, and that’s it.”
