Treasury Secretary Mnuchin promoting movie he produced.
He thinks a half-assed “I’m not supposed to do this, but…” is going to cover his ass?
Apparently he was asked by an editor of Axios (whatever that is), “What’s a movie we should see?” Nice to see the serious journalism we’re getting from those covering the Department of the Treasury.
This could be Mnuchingate.
Meh, I’m too happy over the shitshow on Capitol Hill to start up the Recreational Outrage machine. Also, this was a direct question asked of a (former) producer, as a throwaway. It just doesn’t reach the levels of Kellyanne for me.
Maybe not…but you would think a general “Everyone just shut the fuck up about your personal business, ghodammitall” notice would have been issued by the White House lawyers by now.
Eh, it seems at worst a technical violation of the rules. He wasn’t going out of his way to mention the film, and just logically, I doubt he thinks the film reviews of the Sec of Treasury actually influence their box-office. Its not like he sought the office to help his Batman movies.
You mean it’s okay if he wasn’t prepared?
It’s similar to when VP Biden, put his Ray Bans on during a speech, and said he had been wearing them since his youth, and was hoping to get an endorsement deal out of his statement, and the outrage by everyone over that.
Acios is a project of some of Politico’s old stars. Axios (website) - Wikipedia
Not a coincidence that their name sounds a lot like “access.” From what I’ve seen, I t seems to be access journalism: the ideal scoop isn’t an investigative piece but an exclusive interview. Yech.
Err… No, she didn’t. She was supposed to, and the Office of Government Ethics even recommended that she be reprimanded, but she wasn’t.
Which post is this a reply to?
The White House said she had been “counseled”.
Which was probably praise and a raise.
The thread title.
Yeah, there are zero consequences in this administration for ‘minor’ ethical transgressions. Amidst all of the revelations of contacts with Russian agents, transparent violations of the Enoluments Clause, threats to jail political opponents, Trump enouraging supporters toward acts of open violence, and the Kochs’ essentially openly trying to bribe Republican congresspeople, an ethical violation like promoting an already popular movie (or an already unpopular line of shitty clothes) is about as offensive as a fart in a hurricane.
Stranger
Well, “get in trouble” doesn’t necessarily equate to “officially reprimanded”-she still got into trouble(aka caused a shitstorm to happen), and if you need a cite for that I will refer you to all the articles written about the incident, all the responses from Republicans and the White House itself…and your own statement that the Office of Government Ethics even recommended that she be reprimanded.
Honestly, on its own, I don’t think the Conway thing was really unethical either (or at least, only merited a slap on the wrist). Its not like Conway was making a regular habit of hawking Ivanka’s products. And her statement was an off-the-cuff response to a reporter asking her about the boycott of Ivanka’s goods. It wasn’t like she injected a random “shop Trump” into an unrelated answer.
Its just that it sat on top of the fact that the Trumps were running a large, incredibly opaque, multi-faceted business empire and rather than taking steps to seperate it from their public work, actively rolling it into the Trump presidency.
Mnuchin has a lot of faults, but he’s openly stepping away from his business concerns, co-operating with the recomendations of the ethics office, and not trying to get the theme from the Batman Lego movie made into the National anthem. So I don’t think his awkward joke about seeing his movie really hits the same issues as Conways statement.