Trump aide chided for TV sales pitch

Kellyanne Conway plugs Ivanka Trump’s product line from the White House, raising ethical concerns.

WASHINGTON — Kellyanne Conway, a top aide to President Trump, has been “counseled” for making a sales pitch for Ivanka Trump’s product line during a television interview conducted from the White House.

The endorsement Thursday by Conway raised ethical and legal questions, giving the appearance that she was using the White House to further the Trump family’s commercial interests.

“Kellyanne has been counseled, and that’s all we’re going to go into,” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said. “She’s been counseled on that subject.”

Trump has been in a public battle with Nordstrom, which dropped Ivanka Trump’s product line amid slumping sales.

Ethics lawyers have raised numerous concerns about Trump’s ties to his businesses, which remain under family control and often bear his name, as well as those controlled by other members of his family. But the latest flap has the potential to arouse broader public concern because it involves a well-known retailer.

“Go buy Ivanka’s stuff,” Conway, who served as Trump’s campaign manager and continues to have a central role in advising the president, said on Fox News.

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

Maryland Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the Republican who chairs the committee, requesting a referral to the Office of Government Ethics for possible disciplinary action.

Chaffetz said Conway’s comments were “wrong, wrong, wrong, clearly over the line, unacceptable.”

The White House is largely responsible for policing itself to keep from using the public office for private gain, ethics attorneys said.