Office of Government Ethics urges 'disciplinary action’ against Conway

The White House should investigate and possibly discipline US President Donald Trump's senior adviser, Kellyanne Conway, says the Office of Government Ethics.

In a letter released Tuesday, the office made the recommendation over Conway’s comments last week against Nordstrom’s scrapping of the fashion brand of Trump's daughter, Ivanka.

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers censured Conway over violation of ethics rules that ban promotion of products or personal businesses via a public office.

"There is strong reason to believe that Ms. Conway has violated the Standards of Conduct and that disciplinary action is warranted," read the letter.

It further cited leaders of the House Oversight Committee as those pursuing the matter.

Earlier in the day, Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned following a separate scandal, involving contact with Russia before the new president’s inauguration.

US National Security Adviser Michael Flynn (pictured below) reportedly had secret discussions with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak about sanctions the outgoing administration of President Barack Obama imposed on Moscow late last year.

Flynn had earlier rejected such claims and was backed by Vice President Mike Pence, who said the calls “had nothing whatsoever to do with those sanctions."

According to Conway, Flynn resigned because his role became "unsustainable" and that his misleading of Pence was the "key" in the ultimate exit.

“That makes no sense,” she was told by NBC host Matt Lauer, who also pointed out that "The Justice Department warned the White House that General Flynn had not been completely honest in characterizing that conversation with the Russian ambassador, and they even went further to say that as a result of that dishonesty he was at risk for blackmailing by the Russians."

Conway replied, "That's one characterization but the fact is General Flynn continued in that position and was in the Presidential daily briefings, was part of the leader calls as recently as yesterday...and as time wore on, the situation had obviously become unsustainable."

Lauer pressed on for a sensible answer but Conway stressed on Trump’s “loyalty,” and that it was time to “move on.”

In his resignation letter less than a month into the job, Flynn said he had relayed "incomplete information" to Pence.

Pence initially rejected that Flynn had discussed sanctions with Russia but Flynn later said that he "couldn't be 100 percent sure" about this.

Meanwhile, Moscow said in a statement that the national security advisor’s resignation is a domestic matter.

Meanwhile, Moscow said in a statement that the national security advisor’s resignation is a domestic matter.

Democrats are also pressuring for an independent investigation into the matter.

"We asked for and demand an independent investigation of what Flynn discussed with the Russian ambassador and we'll be saying more about that soon," said US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York.

Republican Senator Roy Blunt also called for a probe into the administration over connection with Russia

"I think everybody needs that investigation to happen," the Missouri lawmaker told local media. "And the Senate Intelligence Committee, again that I serve on, has been given the principal responsibility to look into this, and I think we should look into it exhaustively so that at the end of this process, nobody wonders whether there was a stone left unturned, and shouldn't reach conclusions before you have the information that you need to have to make those conclusions."

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