WATCH: Did Kellyanne Conway Just Break The Law Shilling For Ivanka?

Kellyanne Conway Image by YouTube

By Helen Chernikoff February 9, 2017

“Go buy Ivanka’s stuff, is what I would tell you,” Kellyanne Conway said on Fox News. “I hate shopping, but I’m going to go get some for myself today.”

The first daughter formally severed ties with her businesses, including her eponymous clothing lines, when Donald Trump was elected. But several retailers who used to carry her products have recently discontinued them, citing low sales that may be at least in part the result of boycott efforts like #grabyourwallet.

Nordstrom’s announcement that it would no longer carry Ivanka-brand products prompted a retaliatory tweet from the president, who raged that the store was treating his daughter “unfairly.”

And others have also rallied around her, circulating a #buyIvanka hashtag on Twitter and, in Conway’s case, explicitly shilling for the brand on national television.

That move may have been illegal, Chris Lu, an ethics adviser to President Obama, warned in a tweet of his own that highlighted the relevant law and tagged Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chair of the House’s committee on oversight and government reform.

According to him, it’s against the law to use public office for private gain. Endorsing the product of a friend is specifically prohibited.

Contact Helen Chernikoff at[email protected]

Helen Chernikoff is the Forward’s News Editor. She came to the Forward from The Jewish Week, where she served as the first web director and created both a blog dedicated to disability issues and a food and wine website. Before that, she covered the housing, lodging and logistics industries for Reuters, where she could sit at her desk and watch her stories move the stock market. Helen has a Master’s of Public Administration from Columbia University and a BA in History and French from Amherst College. She is also a rabbinical school dropout. Contact her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter at @thesimplechild.

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