President Donald Trump promoted yet different merchandise this week: "great grass" from the institution he said replaced the White House section free of charge.
Speaking to reporters successful the Oval Office connected Monday, Trump praised Scotts Miracle-Gro, a nationalist institution based successful Ohio that sells section and plot products.
Trump said the institution would soon beryllium replacing the writer successful 700 acres of parks astir Washington, DC, pinch "the champion writer you tin get."
"They do awesome grass. What tin I show you? I gotta springiness them a plug because they did the White House for free," Trump told reporters.
The president said he accepted the connection for Scotts Miracle-Gro to do the White House section aft a "friend" reached out.
"I said, 'I'll return it. How much?' He said, 'Free,'" Trump said, adding he responded, "I'll return it."
Scotts Miracle-Gro announced successful June that it was contributing $1 cardinal to the National Park Service to thief reconstruct the White House South Lawn pursuing the UFC fight held for America 250 connected June 14, Trump's 80th birthday.
Monday's comments are the latest illustration of Trump endorsing a institution that has done thing he wants — a inclination that has alarmed ethics watchdogs and experts.
"Favors don't enactment favors. Sooner aliases later, they move into invoices," said Davina Hurt, head of authorities morals astatine the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics astatine Santa Clara University. "The only mobility is whether the nationalist gets to spot them."
Scotts Miracle-Gro, which donated $500,000 to a pro-Trump PAC successful 2024, and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.
Last year, Trump appeared alongside Teslas astatine the White House and said he planned to bargain 1 to support Elon Musk, past a adjacent state moving astatine DOGE. This year, Trump has encouraged the nationalist to bargain a Dell computer, including aft Michael Dell announced he would money Trump Accounts for children. Trump besides praised Walmart for lowering prices connected immoderate products — an inaugural he claimed was astatine the White House request, though the retailer did not corroborate that.
Richard Painter, who was the main morals lawyer nether President George W. Bush, said that while presidents should not beryllium endorsing immoderate backstage companies, Monday's writer promotion was not surprising.
"In the Bush administration, it would've been a categorical, 'No way. We're not doing that,'" he told Business Insider. "'You don't get to do the White House section for free and person america beforehand your company.'"
Painter said the believe of avoiding endorsing backstage companies was very strictly enforced nether Bush and President Barack Obama, but that the first Trump management "changed everything."
"We've gone truthful acold successful this guidance of normalizing this benignant of" behavior, Painter said.
Hurt said 1 problem pinch Trump's actions is that it tin springiness the quality that a contractor wasn't chosen connected merit, which should beryllium the lawsuit to guarantee maximum use for the American people.
Documentation of a competitory bidding process for authorities contracts is the "gold standard," she said, adding that its absence tin erode nationalist spot successful the thought that the authorities "works for the group and not based connected friends aliases favors."
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Kelsey is simply a elder newsman for Business Insider, wherever she covers business and tech news arsenic good arsenic stories astir travel, luxury, and consulting.Her characteristic communicative "Disaster astatine 18,200 feet" received awards from the New York Press Club and the North American Travel Journalists Association, arsenic good arsenic honorable mention from the Society of American Travel Writers. It was besides included connected Longreads' and Pocket's champion of 2022 lists. She has besides received an American Journalism Online Award for her sum connected missing and murdered Indigenous group successful Wyoming.She's appeared connected CBS, NPR, NBC, and different outlets to talk her work. She antecedently worked connected the world news table astatine the BBC successful London and received a master's successful publicity from Northwestern University.She tin beryllium reached by email astatine [email protected] aliases via the encrypted-messaging app Signal @kelseyv.21.Popular storiesDisaster connected Denali: Inside a 1,000-foot autumn connected America's highest peakThrifting is much celebrated than ever. It's besides ne'er been worse.Rolex wouldn't work the vintage watch my mom inherited. Watchmakers opportunity it happens each the time.A tiny, invasive bug and the ambiance situation are changing really guitars are made, and shifting the people of euphony historyThe tourism free-for-all is overGovernment-run boarding schools were founded to 'civilize' Native Americans. Hundreds of dormant children stay buried successful the schoolyard graves.Meet the Texas curate who helps alert dozens of women to New Mexico each period to get abortionsPeople are flocking to Colorado for the awesome outdoors, but the aerial contamination is truthful bad, it's forcing galore to enactment insideInside Kabul: An assistance worker reveals the devastating chaos that erupted during the US exit from Afghanistan
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