Aide ‘over the line’

In a rare rebuke to a member of its own team, the White House said Thursday that Kellyanne Conway has been “counseled” not to plug Ivanka Trump’s clothing line — as a Republican congressman called her behavior “wrong, wrong, wrong” and “clearly over the line.”

“It needs to be dealt with. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chair of the House Oversight Committee.

His comments came just after White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Conway (inset), a top adviser to President Trump, had been “counseled” about promoting Ivanka’s clothing and accessory brand.

“Kellyanne has been counseled and that’s all we’re going to go with,” Spicer said at his daily press briefing.

Conway used an appearance on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” Thursday morning to promote Ivanka Trump’s line, urging shoppers to go out and buy her products.

“Go buy Ivanka’s stuff, is what I would tell you . . . I’m going to give it a free commercial here: Go buy it today,” Conway said.

The sales pitch prompted Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) to ask Chaffetz’s committee to look into disciplining Conway.

“This appears to be a textbook violation of government-ethics laws and regulations enacted to prevent the abuse of an employee’s government position,” Cummings said. Chaffetz said he and Cummings plan to write a letter to the Office of Government Ethics requesting a review of Conway’s actions.

According to federal regulations, “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.”

Conway’s comments were intended to defend the president, who tweeted Wednesday about Nordstrom dropping his daughter’s line. “My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person - always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!” Trump wrote.

The nationwide department-store chain said it declined to continue selling Ivanka’s line because of declining sales.