White House counsel Kellyanne Conway on Thursday evening said President Trump remains “100 percent” in her court despite comments she made earlier in the day that may have been a breach of federal ethics regulations.
Conway told Fox News host Martha MacCallum that she was aware of the Office of Government Ethics’ letter stating its intention to investigate the matter, but had “nothing more to say about it” before sharing additional comment.
“I am just really happy that I spent an awful lot of time of the president of the United States this afternoon and that he supports me 100 percent,” Conway said.
“It was was a heartening moment. All I can say, at some point in your life, you ought to have a boss who treated me the way that the president is treating me today.”
During an interview on “Fox & Friends” Thursday morning, Conway was asked about a statement Trump made a day earlier, decrying Nordstrom’s decision to discontinue carrying the first daughter’s clothing line due to poor sales and customer complaints regarding her affiliation with the GOP president.
“I do find it ironic that you’ve got some executives all over the Internet bragging about what they’ve done to her and her line and they’re using the most prominent women in Donald Trump’s — you know most prominent woman, his daughter, they’re using her — who’s been a champion for women empowerment, women in the workplace, to get to him,” Conway told the Fox News co-hosts.
“Go buy Ivanka’s stuff is what I would tell you … I hate shopping, I’m going to go get some myself today,” Conway said. “This is just a wonderful line. I own some of it. I fully — I’m going to give a free commercial here. Go buy it today, everybody. You can find it online.”
The counselor to the president’s statement was in violation of federal ethics standards for encouraging consumers to financially support a private sector business. Mid-day Thursday the White House announced Conway was being “counseled” over the incident, but did not state whether her remarks were a slip of the tongue or intentionally spoken.
“Kellyanne has been counseled and that’s all we’re going to go on,” press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters. “She’s been counseled on that subject and that’s it.”
House Oversight Chair Jason Chaffetz and Democratic ranking member, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, sent a letter to the Office of Government Ethics on Thursday asking for an investigation into whether Conway’s comments violated federal ethics regulations.
