Government Ethics Chief Concerned by Trump’s Refusal to Discipline Conway
- Federal ethics regulator Shaub writes letter to White House
- President’s adviser endorsed Ivanka Trump’s apparel line
Kellyanne Conway, senior adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, speaks to a visitor in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York on Dec. 15, 2016.
Photographer: Albin Lohr-Jones/Pool via BloombergThe federal government’s top ethics regulator said he’s concerned that the White House has opted not to discipline Kellyanne Conway over the presidential adviser’s on-air promotion of first daughter Ivanka Trump’s clothing line.
“Not taking disciplinary action against a senior official under such circumstances risks undermining the ethics program,” Walter Shaub, director of the Office of Government Ethics, said in a letter Thursday to the White House. Additionally, Shaub said he was alarmed that White House lawyers have argued that many ethics rules aren’t applicable to people working for the president.