--- title: Kellyanne Conway Plug Had No Nefarious Motive: White House description: The White House said Kellyanne Conway's endorsement of Ivanka Trump's products was done "without nefarious motive" canonical: https://time.com/4687446/kellyanne-conway-ivanka-trump-white-house/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-01T19:03:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:36:21.593Z article:section: Politics og:title: White House Says Kellyanne Conway Was ‘Without Nefarious Motive’ in Endorsing Ivanka Trump Line og:description: "Ms. Conway acted inadvertently and is highly unlikely to do so again" og:url: https://time.com/4687446/kellyanne-conway-ivanka-trump-white-house/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84025427a72eeb29/6988bc8e2dce012b2e9ec790/kellyanne-conway.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Leading Conservatives Gather For Annual CPAC Event In National Harbor, Maryland og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House Says Kellyanne Conway Was ‘Without Nefarious Motive’ in Endorsing Ivanka Trump Line twitter:description: "Ms. Conway acted inadvertently and is highly unlikely to do so again" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84025427a72eeb29/6988bc8e2dce012b2e9ec790/kellyanne-conway.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # White House Says Kellyanne Conway Was ‘Without Nefarious Motive’ While Endorsing Ivanka Trump Line > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Mar 1, 2017 7:03 PM UTC  White House Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway is interviewed by Mercedes Schlapp during the first day of the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center February 23, 2017 in National Harbor, Maryland. White House Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway is interviewed by Mercedes Schlapp during the first day of the Conservative Political Action Conference at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center February 23, 2017 in National Harbor, Maryland. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Mar 1, 2017 7:03 PM UTC The [White House](http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/01/news/kellyanne-conway-ivanka-trump-white-house-letter/index.html?iid=hp-stack-dom) responded to a letter from the Office of Government Ethics with a letter of their own stating that [Kellyanne Conway’s](http://time.com/4686876/kellyanne-conway-meant-no-disrespect-couch-photo/) endorsement of [Ivanka Trump’s](http://motto.time.com/4684095/ivanka-trump-merchandise-boycott-creator/) products was done “without nefarious motive.” The endorsement took place after [Nordstrom](http://time.com/4666116/ethics-calls-kellyanne-conway-nordstrom/) chose to pull Ivanka Trump’s line citing poor performance. Her father, President Donald Trump, said the decision was unfair on Twitter, and [Conway followed up](http://time.com/4665182/kellyanne-conway-ivanka-trump-products/) in a Fox News interview on Feb. 9, saying, “It’s a wonderful line…I’m going to give a free commercial here: Go buy it today, everybody.” The Office of Government Ethics said there was “strong reason to believe” the statement violated rules that forbid public employees from endorsing “any product, service or enterprise, or for the private gain of friends, relatives, or persons with whom the employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental capacity.” But the White House seems disinclined to take disciplinary action, according to its letter. “Upon completion of our inquiry, we concluded that Ms. Conway acted inadvertently and is highly unlikely to do so again,” White House deputy counsel Stefan C. Passantino wrote in the new letter, obtained by CNN Money. “It is noted that Ms. Conway made the statement in question in a light, off-hand manner while attempting to stand up for a person she believed had been unfairly treated and did so without nefarious motive or intent to benefit personally.” \[[_CNN Money_](http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/01/news/kellyanne-conway-ivanka-trump-white-house-letter/index.html?iid=hp-stack-dom)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4687446/kellyanne-conway-ivanka-trump-white-house/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4687446/kellyanne-conway-ivanka-trump-white-house/"},"headline":"White House Says Kellyanne Conway Was ‘Without Nefarious Motive’ While Endorsing Ivanka Trump Line","datePublished":"2017-03-01T19:03:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:36:21.593Z","description":"\"Ms. Conway acted inadvertently and is highly unlikely to do so again\"","url":"https://time.com/4687446/kellyanne-conway-ivanka-trump-white-house/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84025427a72eeb29/6988bc8e2dce012b2e9ec790/kellyanne-conway.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt84025427a72eeb29/6988bc8e2dce012b2e9ec790/kellyanne-conway.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Leading Conservatives Gather For Annual CPAC Event In National Harbor, Maryland","caption":"Leading Conservatives Gather For Annual CPAC Event In National Harbor, Maryland","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4687446/kellyanne-conway-ivanka-trump-white-house/","name":"White House Says Kellyanne Conway Was ‘Without Nefarious Motive’ While Endorsing Ivanka Trump Line"}}]}] ```