Donald Trump Poses With Goya Foods Products in Oval Office After CEO Praises Him
Goya Foods CEO Robert Unanue was met with calls of a boycott after he praised Trump. Right-wingers have since showed their support for the company in response.
On Wednesday, as multiple states see COVID-19 cases surging, Donald Trump decided to awkwardly pose with an assortment of Goya Foods products in the Oval Office and post the resulting image onto his Instagram account.
Trump's photo shoot, which featured appearances from coconut milk, adobo seasoning, chocolate wafers, and red kidney beans all lined up on the Resolute desk, comes on the heels of Robert Unanue, the CEO of Goya Foods, praising the reality television star. "We're all truly blessed—at the same time—to have a leader like President Trump, who is a builder," the CEO said last week. "And that's what my grandfather did. He came to this country to build, to grow, to prosper."
Shortly after he made the comments in support of Trump, people took to social media to call for, and say they will participate in, a boycott against the company.
In response to the boycott, right-wingers, including Trump's daughter Ivanka, have showed their support for the company. The businesswoman and Senior Advisor to the President also posed with a Goya product, deciding on a can of black beans. Many have pointed out that Ivanka may have violated federal ethics laws.
"Executive branch employees may not use their Government positions to suggest that the agency or any part of the executive branch endorses an organization (including a nonprofit organization), product, service, or person," guidelines from the United States Office of Government Ethics states.
Walter Shaub, the former director of the Office of Government Ethics, said that the photos were in fact an ethics violation.
"If you tout the company's product in an obvious response to the backlash the company is facing for the CEO's remarks about your father-president, you knowingly link your account in people's minds to your official activities; you create the appearance of official sanction," Shaub said.
Despite the violation, it's unlikely anything will happen as a complaint would end up at the White House to be reviewed by Trump and the chief of staff, CNN reports.
