First daughter and White House adviser Ivanka Trump is facing legal troubles for violating ethics rules by endorsing a private company after the head of the company praised President Donald Trump.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has filed a complaint accusing Ivanka Trump of a federal ethics violation by brazenly promoting Goya beans on her social media accounts.
Ivanka Trump on Tuesday tweeted a selfie posing with a can of Goya Foods’ black beans with the company’s promotional message: “If it’s Goya, it’s got to be good” in English and Spanish. She posted the same thing on Instagram.
The product-plugging message by the president’s daughter followed calls to boycott Goya products last week after company CEO Robert Unanue claimed that the nation was “blessed” to have Trump as president. Trump followed up the next day with his own Goya pitch from the Oval Office.
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Former OGE Director Walter Shaub declared Thursday in a Washington Post op-ed that Trump’s behavior flat-out “violated an executive branch ethics regulation prohibiting employees from misusing their official positions to endorse commercial products.” Shaub argued that part of the point of the stunt was to send the message that “rules don’t apply” to the Trumps — or to the Republican administration.
CREW characterized Ivanka Trump’s product plug as a “misuse of public office” in a letter Friday to Emory Rounds, the director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.
Ivanka Trump “appears to have clearly violated the Standards of Conduct barring her from using her government position, title or any authority associated with her public office to endorse any product, service, or enterprise,” CREW wrote.
The watchdog group called on Emory Rounds to “consider appropriate disciplinary action against Ms. Trump.”
