Scrutiny Over Ivanka Trump’s Tweet Defending Goya Brand

Ivanka Trump sent the tweet from a personal Twitter account that does double duty chronicling her work on various White House initiatives.

Trump himself appeared to back up his daughter Wednesday by posting a photo on his Instagram account showing him in the Oval Office in front of various Goya products arrayed on his desk.

As president, Trump is exempt from many of the rules that federal workers must follow.

Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics, said on Twitter that the tweets and photos amounted to “an official campaign by the Trump administration to support Goya, making it all the more clear that Ivanka’s tweet was a violation of the misuse of position regulations.”

Shaub left government in 2017 after clashing with the Trump administration over ethics rules.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said the rules are clear.

“The ethics rules for executive branch employees say that you can’t use your official position to promote private business,” said Noah Bookbinder, executive director of CREW.

“It's pretty clear that the context in which this came out is that Goya had been supportive of the Trump administration and the Trump administration was being supportive of Goya.”

Craig Holman, the Capitol Hill lobbyist for Public Citizen, said the episode was reminiscent of a 2017 incident involving Kellyanne Conway.

During a nationally broadcast cable TV interview, Conway urged Trump supporters to buy Ivanka Trump's clothing and accessories after Nordstrom dropped the fashion line.

The White House later said Conway had been “counseled” about her comments.

Holman argued that Ivanka Trump's action was less of a mistake given the Conway incident.

“They decided to violate federal law thinking that it will benefit them politically," he said.

Trump is looking to improve his standing with Latino voters before November's election. He won the votes of about 3 in 10 Latino voters in 2016.

Meadows defended Ivanka Trump.