| Washington, D.C. (March 20, 2025)—Today, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to U.S. Department of Commerce Acting General Counsel John K. Guenther regarding Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s appearance on Fox News in which he unlawfully and shamefully peddled Tesla stock to viewers, encouraging them to enrich Elon Musk by buying his struggling stock. This comes only eight days after President Trump and White House employees turned the South Lawn of the White House into a “a temporary Tesla showroom in a conspicuous favor to his adviser Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of the car company.”
“I write regarding Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s March 19, 2025, appearance on Fox News. During this interview, Secretary Lutnick unlawfully encouraged viewers to ‘buy Tesla.’ As I noted in a March 12, 2025 letter following President Trump’s use of taxpayer resources to endorse Tesla vehicles on the White House lawn, federal law expressly prohibits federal employees’ ‘use of their Government position or title or any authority associated with their public office to endorse any product, service, or enterprise.’ Yet in Mr. Lutnick’s March Fox News appearance, while on screen with a chiron clearly identifying him as ‘Commerce Secretary,’ he recommended that the public purchase Tesla stock and emphasized that it ‘will never be this cheap again.’ During the course of the interview, he went on to ask, ‘who wouldn’t invest in Elon Musk?’ 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,” wrote Ranking Member Connolly
The Trump Administration has a long history of flouting ethical practices and using their offices and/or taxpayer resources to enrich the President’s inner circle. In 2017, Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway told Americans to “go buy Ivanka’s stuff,” declaring “I’m going to give a free commercial here … Go buy it today, everybody. You can find it online.”
Following a letter from the Republican leadership of this Committee, the Office of Government Ethics determined that “there is strong reason to believe that Ms. Conway has violated the Standards of Conduct [prohibiting employees from misusing their official positions] and that disciplinary action is warranted.”
In his letter, Ranking Member Connolly underscored that today’s actions by the Commerce Secretary should not be treated differently:
“Secretary Lutnick’s actions bear striking similarities to Ms. Conway’s. The present circumstances differ in that Tesla is owned by an individual who has been given license by the President to slash and burn his way through the federal government, indiscriminately and lawlessly terminating federal workers and eliminating the services they provide to the American people, while lining his own pockets with billions of taxpayer dollars. These ongoing violations of law require a response befitting of the level abuse to deter further lawlessness and to ensure the American people that members of this Administration seek to serve all people rather than to enrich a select few,” concluded Ranking Member Connolly.
To understand the ongoing pattern and practice of ethical violations, Ranking Member Connolly asked for compliance with his request for documents and information no later than April 3, 2025.
Click here to read the letter to U.S. Department of Commerce Acting General Counsel Guenther.
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