Ever since becoming White House Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders has done more than enough to replace Kellyanne Conway as Donald Trump’s main peddler of alternative facts. It’s gotten to the point that it’s more than appropriate to call her the “Princess of Lies.” After all, her name means “princess,” and she’s working for the King of Lies.
But on Friday, Sanders may have done something far worse than peddle alternative facts. She shilled for one of Trump’s businesses during the daily press briefing. In so doing, she almost certainly violated federal ethics rules.
In case you missed it, Trump stopped in Hawaii before continuing his Asia-Pacific tour–and got a rather chilly reception. While in Hawaii, he visited the Trump International Hotel Waikiki. While Trump doesn’t own the hotel, it uses his name under license.
When asked why Trump stopped by the hotel, Sanders replied:
“It has been a tremendously successful project, and he wanted to say hello and thank you to the employees for all their hard work.”
It sounded like an innocuous comment. But when Norman Eisen, the White House ethics counsel for the first two years of the Obama administration, saw this, he saw it as something else entirely.
ETHICS VIOLATION by @PressSec: under 5 CFR § 2635.702, can't promote Trump's businesses–same violation as @KellyannePolls committed. https://t.co/VKsljE75yE
— Norm Eisen (@NormEisen) November 5, 2017
Eisen was referring to how Conway got busted in the chops for promoting Ivanka Trump’s clothing line from the White House briefing room. In a rare moment of bipartisanship, both House Oversight Committee chairman Jason Chaffetz and ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings condemned this move and called for an ethics review. However, the White House merely opted to “counsel” Sanders.
The relevant rule forbids the use of “public office for private gain.” In this case, Sanders gave the appearance that she was endorsing Trump’s hotel in her capacity as Press Secretary.
The timing of Sanders’ statement couldn’t possibly be worse. Earlier this week, Mexico’s former ambassador to the United States claimed that the State Department was pushing foreign dignitaries to stay at the Trump-owned luxury hotel located in the Old Post Office Pavilion, just blocks from the White House. Combined with how hard Conway got rapped for promoting Ivanka’s clothing line, one would have thought Sanders would have been more careful. Apparently not.
For all the talk about Trump draining the swamp in Washington, it’s been amply demonstrated that he’s actually using the presidency to further his own business interests–in other words, overflowing his own swamp. Now it looks like Sanders may have helped further the cause.
(featured image courtesy Sanders’ Facebook)
