Quote:Kellyanne Conway, Counselor to the President of the United States, took to Fox & Friends this morning to plea for Fox viewers to go out and buy Ivanka Trump’s clothing line. With the White House emblem in the background, she said, ‘Go buy Ivanka’s stuff!” Here is a brief clip, jump below for the full jaw-dropping clip, transcript and outline of the federal law she appears to have violated this morning. [/url]
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"Go buy Ivanka's stuff!" Kellyanne Conway tells "Fox & Friends" viewers from the White House briefing room. 8:12 AM - 9 Feb 2017
The full clip and full transcript:
Quote:KELLYANNE CONWAY: Basically because he keeps his promises. Everybody is just shocked that man about accountability. You could ask about Ivanka. I visited with her yesterday. This is a very successful business woman twice. Obviously she stepped away from it now but in the past she has helped to run her family's real estate empire and on the side, she developed another fully unbelievably entrepreneurial wildly success business that bears her name. And I think she has gone from 800 stores to 1,000 stores or 1,000 places where can you buy. And you can certainly buy her goods online. She’s an incredibly creative, talented woman who also supports her father's presidency and realizes that there are bigger issues that he is going to tackle and if she decides and it works for her family, she comes inside the white house here. She knows people like Deena Powell and me will be working with her to help on women empowerment. Women and girls.
I do find it ironic that you have got some executives all over the internet bragging about what they have done to her and her line and, yet, they are using the most prominent woman in Donald Trump's, you know, most prominent, you know she’s his daughter. And they are using her, who has been a champion for women empowerment of women in the workplace to get to him. I think people could see through that. Go buy ivanka's stuff. I hate shopping, I will go get some myself today.
STEVE DOOCY: There is is that #buy ivanka right now. There is that #grab your wallet is that behind that stuff.
KELLYANNE CONWAY: Some of it is. We know where that's came from. They had a whole election. First female president everybody saw talking about that day. She had no message no, pos message that failed at the ballot box. A March saying the same thing the day after he was sworn in as president. They are welcome to March. But what's of it in terms of commercial interests. This is just wonderful line.I own some of it I fully -- I'm going to give a free commercial here.
Kellyanne Conway repeatedly told Fox & Friends viewers to go out and buy Ivanka Trump’s failing clothing line. This appears to be a clear violation of federal law. (H/T Chris Lu)
Quote:§ 2635.702 Use of public office for private gain.
An employee shall not use his public office for his own private gain, for the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise, or for the private gain of friends, relatives, or persons with whom the employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental capacity, including nonprofit organizations of which the employee is an officer or member, and persons with whom the employee has or seeks employment or business relations. The specific prohibitions set forth in paragraphs (a) through (d) of this section apply this general standard, but are not intended to be exclusive or to limit the application of this section.
Emphasis added. Ivanka Trump may have removed herself as the manager of her company, but she did NOT divest. She still profits from the company. Her divestment is about as blind as Donald Trump’s — nothing more than a front.
And what message is this sending to any company that declines to do business with the Trump Organization? If you are a retailer selling Donald Trump’s (made in Asia) ties or his (made in Mexico) suits and sales are tanking, will the President of the United States use power of the the White House to publicly go after you? After all, yesterday the president’s own spokesman referred to Nordstrom’s decision to stop carrying the Ivanka Trump line (due to lackluster sales) as a "direct attack" on Donald Trump and his policies.
The Trump family is clearly using the White House to financially benefit their family. Where does this end?
Quote:Attorneys, including Campaign Legal Center general counsel Lawrence Noble, said Conway’s endorsement directly conflicted with OGE rules designed to separate government policy from private business dealings.
“Conway’s encouragement to buy Ivanka’s stuff would seem to be a clear violation of rules prohibiting misuse of public office for anyone’s private gain,” Don W. Fox, former general counsel and former acting director of OGE, told The Post.
“This is jaw dropping to me,” Fox added. “This rule has been promulgated by the federal Office of Government Ethics as part of the Standards of Conduct for all executive branch employees and it applies to all members of the armed forces as well.”
Your anger and ego will always reveal your true self.
Completely unethical, and potentially illegal. Could result in her being forced out of the administration.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
(02-09-2017, 04:15 PM)GMDino Wrote: It will be fun to watch at least...
Interesting, yes. Fun, not so much. As a public administrator, the anti-government sentiment, the distrust for what we do, frustrates me for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that it has led to the current administration because of the fallacious outsider narrative. What makes this worse is that now they have cranked up the volume on some of the behaviors that create a distrust in government.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
(02-09-2017, 04:09 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: Completely unethical, and potentially illegal. Could result in her being forced out of the administration.
That's what I am reading, since she literally said "commercial", there's no arguing it wasn't intended to be a promotion/advertisement of something.
Then again, as far I have read, Trump has only "resigned" from leadership of his companies, he is still the exclusive beneficiary and makes money from what they do. I imagine there will be many ethics violations to come.
And..... that is another ethics violation, from an admin that appears to not understand what ethics are or why they are important. I hope this trend changes soon.
(02-09-2017, 04:27 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: And..... that is another ethics violation, from an admin that appears to not understand what ethics are or why they are important. I hope this trend changes soon.
And in other news:
I just can't help but think of this all the time now.
Your anger and ego will always reveal your true self.
If anything brings this administration down, I feel like it'l most likely be a jilted ex-aide or staffer. Kellyanne did a lot for him in the campaign, but she's probably a good candidate to be the first one out. I think anyone on the front lines bearing responsibility for defending everything our infantile chief tweets is a good candidate for replacement at any time. Hell, I feel sorry for the poor jackoffs. They might actually want out.
One of these clowns will leave jilted. Trump will get his Dick Morris in due time, i.e. a stool pigeon willing to spill absolutely any unsavory aspect of the day to day operations of the administration. This is actually starting to become fun.
(02-09-2017, 04:27 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: That's what I am reading, since she literally said "commercial", there's no arguing it wasn't intended to be a promotion/advertisement of something.
Then again, as far I have read, Trump has only "resigned" from leadership of his companies, he is still the exclusive beneficiary and makes money from what they do. I imagine there will be many ethics violations to come.
I was reading about the trust scenario, as well. The only SSN ties to the trust is Trump's own. Now, the case will have to be made for the emoluments stuff, but there is the matter of the DC Trump Hotel lease, which he is in violation of with the current structure. The issue at hand is how does the GSA handle the situation? The administrators that handle the lease have the legal standing to terminate it, but they are accountable to the current administration and so risk their jobs in doing so.
If the lease is left in place, the administrators that calculate the rent annually based on the terms of the contract are torn between two masters. They have a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers, but they will be expected to provide a favorable calculation to Trump because of the trust. Those two interests are in conflict with each other, hence the term that gets thrown around everywhere. It isn't fair to the administrator caught in the middle who, if performing their duty to the taxpayers either by terminating the contract or calculating the rent a particular way, will likely lose their jobs.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
(02-09-2017, 05:09 PM)GMDino Wrote: They sure don't have any ethics.
I'm pretty sure Trump was elected on the idea that he was a sleazy d-bag, but that his sleazy d-baggedness was somehow going to help us because we were on his side. I liken it to a batted woman seeking out dangerously violent men because she thinks he will protect her from other dangerously violent men.
(02-09-2017, 05:37 PM)Benton Wrote: Think it was in an NPR article, but it's up to Trump if they want to enforce it.
Sooo...
At the first level, but there can be action through the courts if citizens are concerned that their interests are not being served by the action (or inaction) on this situation.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
(02-09-2017, 05:12 PM)Nately120 Wrote: I'm pretty sure Trump was elected on the idea that he was a sleazy d-bag, but that his sleazy d-baggedness was somehow going to help us because we were on his side. I liken it to a batted woman seeking out dangerously violent men because she thinks he will protect her from other dangerously violent men.
Even the GOP isn't happy about this. House of Representatives member Jason Chaffetz is a Utah Republican who chairs the House Oversight committee. He said about Trump doing this through Conway “What he's doing is highly unethical." That's not good for the Trump administration. Not good at all.
(02-09-2017, 06:53 PM)BoomerFan Wrote: Even the GOP isn't happy about this. House of Representatives member Jason Chaffetz is a Utah Republican who chairs the House Oversight committee said “What he's doing is highly unethical." That's not good for the Trump administration. Not good at all.
Doesn't matter, so long as Trump has massive support from people who don't care about or don't understand ethical violations not attributed to Hillary.
Ethics was never going to matter in a Trump administration.
Trump incompetence/corruption will only matter as various fractions of supporters begin to peel away from Trump over the next few months--e.g., people who depend upon the Affordable Care Act but wanted Trump to get rid of Obamacare; people who want to punish Muslims and immigrants, but didn't realize it might hurt trade and jobs and increase taxes and the cost of goods; military serving in the Persian Gulf who suddenly realize Trump might start a war over people in "little boats" giving Navy ships the finger; out of work coal miners who realize Trump can't/won't bring their jobs back, but he can destroy their Medicare; the 8% of African-Americans who voted for Trump without realizing that was a vote for Sessions and voter id laws; public school teachers who wanted out from under government bureaucracy and got Devos; manufacturers who get tired of tweet-shaming.
Trump will eventually lose the critical mass of popular support that helps him keep senators and congressmen who don't like him in line. Then the scandals, the tax return, the Russian and Chinese loans, and children in charge of businesses will matter.
Quote:Whether Conway knew she was breaking a federal law in the process or not, she clearly didn’t care much.
But other people did. Fox's Chris Wallace blasted Conway and Trump on the Happening Now show a few hours later. Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Conway had been "counseled" about her behavior. According to The Hill, House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) worked on a joint referral of Conway to the Office of Government Ethics “to determine whether she violated ethics laws barring federal employees from using their public offices to endorse products.”
So in the wake of the hullaballoo, Conway revisited Fox News, this time The First 100 Days, hosted by MacCallum.
Kelly refused to comment any further about being "counseled."
So MacCallum moved on to ask about the Chaffetz/Cummings letter.
Quote:CONWAY: Well, we’re aware of that letter and we’re reviewing that internally. I’m just really happy that I spent an awful lot of time with the president of the United States this afternoon and that he supports me 100%.
MACCALLUM: So you spoke about that matter and he is not – doesn’t have any intention to suspend you?
CONWAY: We spoke about a range of matters and he supports me 100%. In fact, it was a very heartening moment. All I can to America’s women is, 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.
Putting aside the Freudian slip that suggests Conway doesn’t really care about “America’s women,” it’s pretty darned clear that Trump doesn’t give a fig about any ethics conflict.
And Conway doesn’t either.
Watch it below, from the February 9, 2017 The First 100 Days.
Your anger and ego will always reveal your true self.
Andrew Kirell
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