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SALT LAKE CITY — Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said Thursday it "is just wrong, wrong, wrong" for White House counselor Kellyanne Conway to have promoted Ivanka Trump's fashion brand.
Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said he and the committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Elijah Cummings, of Maryland, are referring the issue to the White House and the Office of Government Ethics."
"She cannot be using the assets of the bully pulpit of the White House to promote a product like that. It is just wrong, wrong, wrong," the 3rd District congressman told reporters after delivering his annual update to Utah House Republicans.
Chaffetz has been criticized for not investigating President Donald Trump's business dealings, even though his committee is continuing to look into allegations against Trump's Democratic opponent in 2016, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
But he responded to Conway telling Fox News in an interview Thursday that she was giving the president's daughter "a free commercial here," telling viewers to "go buy Ivanka's stuff."
On Wednesday, the president posted on Twitter that his daughter Ivanka had been "treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom," calling the luxury department store chain decision to drop her clothing and shoe line "Terrible!"
Related:
Trump criticism of Nordstrom raises conflict concern
Where the White House saw a father standing up for his daughter, an ethics expert saw an implicit threat.White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Conway has been "counseled," but Chaffetz made it clear more needs to be done.
"Elijah Cummings and I are going to jointly send a letter to the White House and Office of Government Ethics, but it needs to be referred to them. It was clearly over the line, and it's not acceptable. She should have known better," he said.
Chaffetz met with Trump for a half-hour earlier this week but said the president told him no oversight issues would be discussed. Instead, they talked about Utah's efforts to undo the Bears Ears National Monument and some reform proposals.
