The Campaign Legal Center (CLC) called for an investigation Friday into whether Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s recent comments encouraging Americans to buy Tesla stock violated federal ethics laws.
In a letter to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics and ethics officials at the Commerce Department, the watchdog group called Lutnick’s remarks an “apparently flagrant violation” of a federal law barring public officials from promoting any “product, service or enterprise.”
“The ethics laws that prohibit using public office for private gain exist to hold public officials accountable to their responsibility of serving the public good,” said Kedric Payne, the CLC’s vice president, general counsel and senior director of ethics, and Danielle Caputo, the group’s senior legal counsel on ethics.
“No public good is served when a cabinet official acts as an influencer promoting a company’s stock,” they added.
Lutnick gave Tesla’s stock a shoutout Wednesday during an appearance on Fox News’s “Jesse Watters Primetime” in which he was asked about recent attacks targeting Tesla dealerships, showrooms, charging stations and vehicles.
He slammed the attacks as “outrageous,” praising Tesla CEO and close President Trump ally Elon Musk as “probably the best entrepreneur, the best technologist, the best leader of any set of companies in America working for America.”
“I think, if you want to learn something on this show tonight: Buy Tesla,” Lutnick added. “It’s unbelievable that this guy’s stock is this cheap. It’ll never be this cheap again.”
The Trump administration has gone to bat for Tesla in recent weeks, as the company faces violent backlash and sees its stock plummet in response to Musk’s prominent and controversial role leading the Department of Government Efficiency.
Trump promised to buy a Tesla last week, testing out several models parked outside the White House. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who labeled the attacks on Tesla “domestic terrorism,” announced the arrest of three suspected perpetrators Thursday.
