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Ethics Office Confirms Conway Breach; Administration’s Conflicts, Recklessness and Disregard for the Truth Start With Trump

Feb. 14, 2017

Ethics Office Confirms Conway Breach; Administration’s Conflicts, Recklessness and Disregard for the Truth Start With Trump

Statement of Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen

Note: The U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) today concluded that White House counselor Kellyanne Conway misused her position by using a television interview to urge the public to buy Ivanka Trump products. The office has called for the White House to discipline Conway. Public Citizen filed a complaint on Feb. 9 asking the OGE to investigate.

Now comes the independent ethics office to uphold basic standards of propriety, decency and anti-corruption. We can only hope that the Trump White House responds positively to the call to discipline Kellyanne Conway for her transgressions – statements that never would have been made had she subjected herself to the most elementary standards.

But forgive us if we don’t hold our breath. Conway’s promotion of Ivanka’s products followed the example of President Trump and was intended to curry favor with the president (apparently successfully).

The administration’s pervasive conflicts of interest, recklessness, carelessness and disregard for anti-corruption standards and even truth all start from the president.

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