NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� When a White House adviser in the first Trump administration told TV viewers to 鈥淕o buy Ivanka stuff," top government lawyers sprang into action, telling her she had violated ethics rules and warning her not to do it again.
Government ethics experts have varying opinions on whether the 2017 criticism of Kellyanne Conway went far enough, but many agree such violations now might not even draw an official rebuke.
A week after President Donald Trump turned the White House lawn into , a second sales pitch by a U.S. official occurred, this time for Tesla stock.
鈥淚t will never be this cheap,鈥� U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Wednesday. 鈥淏uy Tesla."
Government ethics experts say Lutnick broke a 1989 law prohibiting federal employees from using 鈥減ublic office for private gain," later detailed to include a ban on 鈥漞ndorsements." Although presidents are generally exempt from government ethics rules, most federal employees are not and are often punished for violations, including rebukes like the one .
As of Friday, no public action had been taken against Lutnick and it was unclear whether he would suffer a similar fate.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e not even thinking of ethics,鈥� said Trump critic and former Republican White House ethics czar Richard Painter of administration officials.
Painter has equally low expectations of that other possible brake to future violations 鈥� public opinion: 鈥滻 don't know if people care."
In his first term, Trump near the Oval Office to foreign ambassadors and lobbyists in what 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 鈥淎merica Idea鈥� in hopes of cashing in on his celebrity. Trump even once proposed of world leaders at his then-struggling Doral golf resort.
The 鈥楤uy Ivanka' rebuke
But the reaction to Conway鈥檚 鈥淚vanka stuff鈥� comment suggested certain lines 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 saying Trump's adviser may have broken the law and urging a probe. 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 abide by it in future.
But this time, there is no head of the Office of Government Ethics. He was fired by Trump. Ditto for the inspector generals of various agencies who would head any investigation.
鈥淲hat is likely to happen now? I really don鈥檛 know,鈥� 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 make sure the secretary acknowledges the law."
Payne said Lutnick's comment on TV may seem like a small transgression but it could snowball into a bigger problem if not punished.
鈥淚t starts with one TV appearance, but can develop into multiple officials asking people to support companies and products,鈥� Payne said. 鈥淚f there are no consequences, you get into a danger zone of a corruption.鈥�
Trump critics point to other signs that Trump is careless with the law and ethical norms, citing his pardons for , a decision to allow his Trump Organization to strike and his attack on the banning U.S. company bribes abroad to win business.
Jelly beans and airlines
When it comes endorsing products, presidents used to be far more circumspect.
Their comments were mostly quick asides expressing opinions of taste, such as when Harry Truman called Pillsbury flour the 鈥渇inest" or John F. Kennedy said United Airlines was 鈥渞eliable.鈥�
Ronald Reagan famously enthused about his jelly beans habit, remarking that they were the 鈥減erfect snack.鈥�
Trump had five Teslas lined up in the White House driveway last week as he . Then he slipped into a red Model S he had targeted for personal purchase, exclaiming, 鈥淲ow. That鈥檚 beautiful.鈥�
鈥淧residents are allowed to have personal opinions on products they like and dislike,鈥� said ethics lawyer Kathleen Clark, referring to the Truman through Reagan examples. 鈥滲ut what Trump did was transform the White House into a set for advertising the products of a private company."
"It鈥檚 the difference between holding an extravaganza and holding an opinion."
Calls for Musk investigation
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 saying that, while presidents are exempt from ethics law banning endorsements, Elon Musk isn鈥檛 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 about 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, lauding 鈥渉is immensely successful private sector career鈥� and his 鈥渃ritical role on President Trump鈥檚 trade and economic team.鈥�
Former White House ethics chief Painter says Democrats have also played loose with the ethics law.
He is harshly critical of the Clinton charity, the Clinton Foundation, which was taking donations from foreign governments when Hillary Clinton was the country's chief diplomat as secretary of state. Painter also blasts former President Joe Biden for not removing his name from a University of Pennsylvania when he was in office even though it appeared to be helping draw donations overseas.
But Painter says the slide from caring about ethics laws and norms to defiance has hit a new low.
鈥淭here's been a deterioration in ethics," he said. 鈥淲hat Biden did wasn鈥檛 good, but this is worse."
Bernard Condon, The Associated Press
