The Trump administration’s efforts to boost Elon Musk’s bottom line appeared to reach a new low last week when Donald Trump hosted what was effectively an infomercial for Tesla on the White House South Lawn. This week, however, the Republican team managed to sink even lower.
The president’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, appeared on Fox News and reflected on shares in Tesla, Musk’s car company, falling sharply in recent weeks. At that point, the Cabinet secretary encouraged viewers to start investing: “It’s unbelievable that this guy’s stock is this cheap,” Lutnick said. “It’ll never be this cheap again.” He added, “I think, if you want to learn something on this show tonight: Buy Tesla.”
It’s not the commerce secretary’s job to give the public investment advice. But as we’ve discussed, what made these on-air comments especially problematic was the fact that Lutnick — who was confirmed by the Senate and holds an important position of public trust — took it upon himself to urge a national television audience to buy a specific stock tied to the sitting president’s top campaign donor.
The Washington Post highlighted the degree to which the secretary appeared to violate longstanding ethics rules.
With only a few exceptions, the Code of Federal Regulations prohibits executive branch employees from using their public office ‘for the endorsement of any product, service, or enterprise.’ Employees are also generally barred from giving preferential treatment to an individual or organization. Those ethical rules, along with the tenet that officials shouldn’t use their public office for private gain, are central to American democratic norms, advocates for ethics in government said.
When reporters pressed White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt for some kind of defense, she didn’t answer directly, saying that Lutnick was simply “reiterating” that Trump supports “an American-made company like Tesla.”
Given what the secretary actually said, that response fell far short.
As for Capitol Hill, Lutnick’s apparent ethics breach did not go unnoticed. The Hill reported:
House Oversight and Accountability Committee ranking member Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) requested an investigation into Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s comments urging Americans to buy Tesla stock as the company’s shares dip due to mass firings and reform efforts overseen by CEO Elon Musk.
The Virginia Democrat specifically sent a letter to Department of Commerce Acting General Counsel John K. Guenther, making the case that Lutnick’s on-air comments violated the Standards of Ethical Conduct. “To understand the evolving nature by which President Trump, Elon Musk, and Trump Administration officials are misusing the federal government for personal enrichment instead of the public good, I ask that you provide the information and documents requested and cease any activities by Department officials that endorse a specific product or company,” the Oversight Committee’s ranking member wrote. The problem, of course, is that while Connolly has the facts on his side, he’s also a member of the House minority, which means he has no power to launch investigations, hold hearings or issue subpoenas. The Commerce Department will no doubt receive his request for information, but the agency is likely to ignore it, knowing there’s little Democratic members can do about it — at least until January 2027. That said, Congress’ Republican majority could theoretically take its oversight responsibilities seriously and began an inquiry into the Lutnick controversy. In practice, of course, the odds of GOP lawmakers taking such a step is effectively zero.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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