Rep. Chris Collins said Friday that people questioning White House counselor Kellyanne Conway for hawking Ivanka Trump’s products on national television should “get a life.”
“I saw that interview … she was smiling, she was laughing,” Mr. Collins, New York Republican and a top Trump ally, said on CNN’s “New Day.” “Somebody’s making a mountain out of a molehill here.”
“I’d say get a life. This is not anything other than her commenting to the news of the day in a lighthearted fashion, and I certainly took it that way,” he said.
“I’m just amazed that others seem to be trying to roll out the legal issues. I would never go down that road,” Mr. Collins said.
In an interview on Fox News Thursday, Ms. Conway urged people to buy Ms. Trump’s products and offered that she was giving a “free commercial.” A day earlier, President Trump had said Nordstrom, which recently dropped his daughter’s clothing line, was treating Ms. Trump unfairly.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the House oversight committee chairman, and ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings sent a letter to the Office of Government Ethics Thursday saying the Fox interview raised “extremely serious concerns.”
Government employees aren’t allowed to use their positions for private gain or to promote a particular product.
The congressmen asked OGE Director Walter Shaub to determine any punishment, if necessary, because Mr. Trump has a conflict of interest since the matter involved his daughter.
Ms. Conway said later in the day on Fox News that Mr. Trump supports her “100 percent.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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