Mnuchin: I shouldn’t have plugged ‘Lego Batman’

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Friday expressed regret for promoting “The Lego Batman Movie,” a film produced by a company he founded.

Mnuchin wrote in a letter to Office of Government Ethics Director Walter Shaub Jr. that he shouldn’t have mentioned “Lego Batman” during an interview last week with Axios in which he was asked for a movie recommendation. 

{mosads}“Lego Batman” was produced by RatPac-Dune Entertainment, which Mnuchin founded and promised to divest from upon his confirmation. It’s illegal for federal employees to use their office to promote outside work, but Mnuchin said he didn’t intend to do so.

“I’m not allowed to promote anything that I’m involved in,” said Mnuchin in the interview. “So I just want to have the legal disclosure, you’ve asked me the question, and I am not promoting any product. But you should send all your kids to ‘Lego Batman.’ ”

Mnuchin’s pitch set off multiple calls for an ethics investigation, including one from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

Mnuchin wrote that his “Batman” pitch “could reasonably have been interpreted to encourage the questioner to see a film with which I was associated.” 

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

Mnuchin emphasized that he takes ethics rules “very seriously” and has been briefed multiple times by Treasury ethics officials.