A senior Democrat has called for US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin to face an ethics violation investigation over comments he made plugging The Lego Batman Movie, a film financed by one of Mnuchin’s companies.
The treasury secretary acknowledged that ethics laws prohibit him from endorsing products that may benefit his financial interests, before seemingly doing so anyway.
Released last moth, the Lego Batman Movie proved popular with both the public and critics, with Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw describing it as relentlessly, consistently funny.
Mnuchin is the co-founder of RatPac-Dune, a production company that funded Lego Batman as well as films such as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.