President Donald Trump called out Nordstrom on Wednesday for cutting ties with his daughter Ivanka Trump’s clothing line, raking in negative responses from critics who are accusing him of taking advantage of public office for the benefit of his family’s business empire.
Following Trump’s unconventional move to be involved in Ivanka’s clothing line being dropped from Nordstrom using a White House platform, the department store chain explained its action last week. Ivanka’s goods were taken off Nordstrom because of declining sales. However, White House spokesman issued a statement calling Nordstrom’s action “a direct attack” on the president and his policies.
"My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person - always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!" Trump posted on Wednesday on his personal account as well as the official presidential Twitter accounts. The president’s interference in Nordstrom’s decision to drop Ivanka’s clothing line, including his controversial tweet, has been deemed unprecedented and worrisome, as pointed out by Reuters.
"This is misuse of public office for private gains," said Richard Painter, who worked under former President George W. Bush's ethcics counsel. He also referred to such move as an abuse of power, given that Nordstrom will highly likely be a "persona non grata" with the Trump administration.
After Trump’s attack on Nordstrom, a company representative has come forward to clarify that it was in early January that the store chain decided to drop the Ivanka clothing line based on the brand’s low sales performance. "Over the past year, and particularly in the last half of 2016, sales of the brand have steadily declined to the point where it didn't make good business sense for us to continue with the line for now,” Nordstrom explained in its official statement.
According to Business Insider, the luxury chain of department stores released such statement in response to Trump and the White House making accusations that the company is trying to damage the family’s name by dropping Ivanka’s clothing line. While the White House referred to Nordstrom's action as maligning the president's daughter, the company said it has had a great relationship with Ivanka and her team.
