President Donald Trump endorsed his former spokesman Sean Spicer's new book over the weekend. It's the latest plug for a product or book by arguably the most powerful man in the world. Although some critics say the practice is tacky or unethical, it is not illegal.
"The President of the United States is exempt from most, although not all, federal ethics laws," said senior counsel Daniel Weiner at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU, a nonprofit that works to reform the country's systems of democracy.
Weiner calls president Trump's readiness to endorse businesses unprecedented in modern politics but tells 12 News that both the president and vice president are immune from those conflict of interest laws, even though other federal employees risk being prosecuted for the same behavior.
“I think there has been a systematic disregard to the sort of norms that his predecessors of both parties adhered to, and now we need to make a decision in this country about which of the norms we think are important and whether any should be codified into law,” Weiner said.
As president-elect, Trump tweeted in January of 2017 that Americans should "Buy L.L. Bean." He routinely endorses books by authors who align with him politically. He also routinely promotes cable TV network Fox News, whose pundits are especially friendly to him.
Weiner says even Trump supporters should take seriously President Trump's penchant for "going outside of the norms" of past presidents.
"The next president may not be someone you agree with," he said. "It may be Mark Zuckerberg or Oprah Winfrey, a liberal business type, so what I would encourage people to do is really think about this in terms of what sort of government do you want? And not whether you happen to like this particular president."