Well I don't know, supposedly Kellyanne Conway has apologized to President Donald Trump for giving free government advertising to his daughter's dress line. What a gas! The Trump administration is just one huge conflict of interest. No surprise that he defends Kellyanne.* But I worked in the Federal government for 34 yrs and I can tell you that, if I had done something like Kellyanne did, I would at least have been suspended for 5 days, if not fired.
The whole Donald administration is just one big exception. Donald Trump himself is in violation of his lease of the Old Post Office in Washington, D.C.
The Trump Organization's lease contract with the U.S. General Services Administration, signed in 2013, provides that "no elected official of the government ... shall be admitted to any share or part of this Lease, or to any benefit that may arise therefrom."[158] To date, the GSA has not declared the Trump Organization to be in breach of the lease, "and declined to comment on the status of any negotiations to resolve the apparent breach."[158] However, in a a letter to the GSA, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington wrote: "Elected government officials are barred from receiving any benefit under the lease, and now that Mr. Trump has been sworn in today as President of the United States, Trump Old Post Office LLC, a company he largely owns, is in violation of the lease's conflicts-of-interest provision."[158]**
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The President responded to the emolument clause allegations by outlining a plan where payments from foreign guests would be paid into the U.S. Treasury and to the GSA contract issues by placing his holdings into a trust directed by his children. This plan was criticized by Walter M. Shaub, the Director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, who stated that "the plan does not comport with the tradition of our Presidents over the past 40 years" and was at odds with past practice, since "...every President in modern times has taken the strong medicine of divestiture."[163]**
Even in decisions where I agree with Trump, e.g. Gen Mattis for Secretary of Defense, there is still an exception in that congress had to act to permit him to take the position even though he has not been retired from military service for three years.
* http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/trump-supports-kellyanne-conway-ivanka-clothing-line-comment-article-1.29690
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Post_Office_Pavilion
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