(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s controversial showcase of Tesla cars in front of the White House has set off alarms around Washington over what some see as an infomercial for the billionaire’s car company on high-profile government property.
Ethics experts ABC News spoke with are raising concerns that the Tuesday event could blur or even cross the lines of what’s considered proper conduct by elected officials.
“It could be reasonably assumed by some that the White House and the president’s endorsement is up for sale,” William F. Hall, an adjunct professor of political science at Webster University, said Wednesday.
The event happened hours after Trump posted he was going to buy a Tesla following the company’s mass protests and a major decline in stock value and sales across the world. When reporters asked Trump about the optics of the event, he didn’t deny that he was doing it to help Musk’s bottom line.
“I think he’s been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people. And I just want people to know that he can’t be penalized for being a patriot. And he’s a great patriot, and he’s also done an incredible job with Tesla,” he told reporters, adding that Musk hadn’t asked him for anything. Musk later thanked Trump on X.
Hall, who previously served in the Justice Department as a field director during the Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations, said it is not uncommon for presidents to lend support to American companies but that it’s usually done outside of the White House at other locations such as at a factory or an office space.
“As the elected leader of our nation, I think it would not be at all difficult for the average American who might have viewed that to reasonably interpret that he was endorsing this product,” he said.
Delaney Marsco, Director of Ethics for the Campaign Legal Center, a non-profit legal group, told ABC News that ethics laws primarily focus on executive employees serving under the president but not on the president himself.
She said that was because lawmakers who wrote those rules did not anticipate any president disregarding longstanding standards of what’s expected and acceptable.
“One of the things we have relied on in ethics norms are the norms about what is right. President Trump doesn’t abide by those norms,” she said.
Marsco added that Musk’s vaguely-defined role as a presidential adviser, as well as his being the CEO of tech companies that do business with the government, also raised serious concerns given Tuesday’s event. She noted she expected that Musk’s behavior wasn’t being questioned just on the political front.
“I’m sure shareholders are concerned about this line being blurred, and it’s equally confusing for the public,” she said.
Tesla’s stock dived over the last couple of weeks but saw a slight increase after Trump checked out Musk’s vehicles at the White House. Hall noted that Tesla and Musk have been on the receiving end of protests due to his actions and words since he got more involved with Trump.
The president claimed he was going to write a check for one of the cars full price and provide it for the White House staff, however, it was not clear as of Wednesday evening if that actually happened.
The ethics experts warned that the move may set an unprecedented standard for future presidents, one that diminishes the objectivity of the executive branch.
“The federal government isn’t in the business of endorsing products to buy. The federal government is supposed to be making policy decisions that better the lives of the American public not making endorsements of the president’s friends or the president’s donors,” Marso said.
Marsco added that there is nothing stopping Trump or future presidents from making these unethical decisions, however, those ethics laws governing the executive branch can be strengthened by lawmakers, especially if there is outcry from the public.
“When you start talking about ethics some people don’t understand the ethic laws and what they entail … but the public isn’t stupid,” she said. “They know what a conflict of interest is and what the government is supposed to do for them. The public knows this is not the right use of the office of a president, to endorse a product that is a friend and a major political donor.”`
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