NEW YORK (AP) — When a White House adviser in the first Trump administration urged TV viewers to “Go buy Ivanka stuff,” top government lawyers quickly intervened, informing her that she had breached ethics rules and cautioning her against repeating such actions. Government ethics experts have differing opinions on whether the 2017 reprimand of Kellyanne Conway was sufficient, but many concur that similar violations today might not even result in an official reprimand.
A week after President Donald Trump transformed the White House lawn into a promotional event for Elon Musk’s Tesla cars, another endorsement by a U.S. official occurred, this time for Tesla stock. “It will never be this cheap,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stated on Wednesday. “Buy Tesla.”
Government ethics experts argue that Lutnick violated a 1989 law prohibiting federal employees from using their “public office for private gain,” which includes a ban on “endorsements.” Although presidents are generally exempt from government ethics rules, most federal employees are not and are often penalized for violations, including reprimands like the one Conway received.
As of Friday, no public action had been taken against Lutnick, and it was unclear whether he would face a similar fate. “They’re not even thinking of ethics,” said Trump critic and former Republican White House ethics czar Richard Painter regarding administration officials.
Painter also has low expectations for another potential deterrent to future violations—public opinion: “I don’t know if people care.”
In his first term, Trump opened his hotel near the Oval Office to foreign ambassadors and lobbyists, which many legal scholars argued was a violation of a constitutional ban against presidents receiving payments or gifts that could distort public policy for private gain. His company launched a new hotel chain called “America Idea” in hopes of capitalizing on his celebrity. Trump even once proposed holding a G-7 meeting of world leaders at his then-struggling Doral golf resort.
The reaction to Conway’s “Ivanka stuff” comment suggested certain boundaries couldn’t be crossed. Within days of Conway’s TV comments, the head of the federal ethics agency, the Office of Government Ethics, wrote a letter to the White House stating that Trump’s adviser may have broken the law and urging an investigation. A White House lawyer then met with Conway to remind her of the law and reported to the ethics office that she had assured him she would comply in the future.
However, this time, there is no head of the Office of Government Ethics. He was fired by Trump. The same fate befell the inspector generals of various agencies who would lead any investigation.
“What is likely to happen now? I really don’t know,” said Kedric Payne, chief lawyer at the Campaign Legal Center, a non-profit watchdog that sent a letter to the government ethics office on Friday calling for an investigation. “We no longer have the head of the Office of Government Ethics to push the Commerce Department to ensure the secretary acknowledges the law.”
Payne said Lutnick’s comment on TV may seem like a minor transgression but could escalate into a larger issue if not addressed. “It starts with one TV appearance, but can develop into multiple officials asking people to support companies and products,” Payne said. “If there are no consequences, you enter a danger zone of corruption.”
Trump critics point to other signs that Trump is indifferent to legal and ethical norms, citing his pardons for Jan. 6 Capitol rioters, a decision to allow his Trump Organization to strike business deals abroad, and his attack on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act banning U.S. company bribes abroad to win business.
When it comes to endorsing products, presidents used to be far more cautious. Their comments were mostly brief expressions of personal taste, such as when Harry Truman called Pillsbury flour the “finest” or John F. Kennedy said United Airlines was “reliable.”
Ronald Reagan famously praised his jelly beans habit, remarking that they were the “perfect snack.”
Trump had five Teslas lined up in the White House driveway last week as he praised Musk’s company. Then he slipped into a red Model S he had targeted for personal purchase, exclaiming, “Wow. That’s beautiful.”
“Presidents are allowed to have personal opinions on products they like and dislike,” said ethics lawyer Kathleen Clark, referring to the Truman through Reagan examples. “But what Trump did was transform the White House into a set for advertising the products of a private company.”
“It’s the difference between holding an extravaganza and holding an opinion.”
In the aftermath of the Tesla White House event, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and three other senators wrote a letter to the Office of Government Ethics stating that, while presidents are exempt from ethics laws banning endorsements, Elon Musk isn’t and calling for an investigation.
A spokeswoman from Warren’s office said the government ethics office had not yet responded about what it planned to do regarding the White House Tesla endorsement. The Office of Government Ethics itself said it would not comment on either the Warren letter or Lutnick’s TV appearance.
The Commerce Department did not respond to Associated Press requests for comment.
Asked whether Lutnick would be reprimanded or an investigation opened, White House spokesman Kush Desai defended Lutnick, praising “his immensely successful private sector career” and his “critical role on President Trump’s trade and economic team.”
Former White House ethics chief Painter says Democrats have also been lax with the ethics law. He is harshly critical of the Clinton charity, the Clinton Foundation, which was accepting donations from foreign governments when Hillary Clinton was the country’s chief diplomat as secretary of state. Painter also criticizes former President Joe Biden for not removing his name from a University of Pennsylvania research institute while in office, even though it appeared to be helping draw donations overseas.
But Painter says the decline from caring about ethics laws and norms to defiance has hit a new low. “There’s been a deterioration in ethics,” he said. “What Biden did wasn’t good, but this is worse.”
— news from The Associated Press