July 15, 2020 🟡 Significant

Poses with Goya products at the Resolute Desk amid ethics criticism

On July 15, 2020, Trump posted a photo to his official Instagram account showing himself at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office with five Goya Foods products arranged in front of him, giving a double thumbs-up. The same day he tweeted, ".@GoyaFoods is doing GREAT. The Radical Left smear machine backfired, people are buying like crazy!" The display followed a boycott campaign against Goya after CEO Robert Unanue praised Trump at a White House event on July 9, and after Ivanka Trump posted her own photo holding Goya beans days earlier. Government ethics experts, including former Office of Government Ethics director Walter Shaub, said the display violated federal regulations barring executive branch employees from using their office to suggest endorsement of a private product.