ETHICAL FAIL

Treasury Secretary Tells Ethics Office He Regrets Publicly Promoting ‘Lego Batman’

“I should not have made that statement,” Mnuchin admitted.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who last week publicly encouraged people to go see The Lego Batman Movie, which he executive produced, told the Office of Government Ethics that he regretted those comments. During an interview with Axios last week, Mnuchin said, “I am not promoting any product.” Then he added: “But you should send all your kids to Lego Batman.” Mnuchin has now written a letter to the ethics office acknowledging questions about his possible violation of federal ethics law. His words “could reasonably have been interpreted to encourage the questioner to see a film with which I was associated,” he conceded. “I should not have made that statement,” he added. Mnuchin has said he will divest his stake in Ratpac-Dune Entertainment, the company he founded, within 120 days of his January 10 ethics agreement.