Forbes: In Plugging Ivanka Trump Products On National Television, Did Kellyanne Conway Break A Federal Law?
"It's illegal to promote any business," Larry Noble, general counsel of the Campaign Legal Center and former general counsel of the Federal Election Commission, said in a phone interview. "The government is not a private corporation. When you hold a position in the government, you're a public servant, you're there to serve the public." And while Conway entered public consciousness as a strategist and pollster who became Trump's campaign manager, as counselor to the president she is now a public employee...
Whether or not Conway will admit fault or see some sort of reprimand remains to be seen. Noble said that "traditionally, when you have an ethics violation, the first line of defense is the agency you're with. The ethics office of the agency can take disciplinary action." While he doesn't expect the White House to take disciplinary action, he said he does hope they acknowledge that what Conway said was not appropriate.
"It was very blatant. She said, I’m going to give them a free advertisement," Noble noted. "I think at some point, they've got to acknowledge that it was wrong."