In case you haven t heard, Eric Trump recently had to cancel an auction in which he was using his charity as a front to sell access to his father s administration. Recently the Eric Trump Foundation announced an auction for coffee with his sister, incoming First Lady Ivanka, who will be serving as an adviser to her father and occupying the space in the White House normally reserved for the President s spouse.To any casual onlooker, this is exactly the sort of situation that used to cause Trump to scream  lock her up,  but now that he s President, the obvious conflict of interest presented by the sale of access to those closest to the President-elect doesn t matter much to him. On Friday, The Donald took to Twitter to whine that his family can t sell access to his administration:My wonderful son, Eric, will no longer be allowed to raise money for children with cancer because of a possible conflict of interest with  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2016my presidency. Isn't this a ridiculous shame? He loves these kids, has raised millions of dollars for them, and now must stop. Wrong answer!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2016Now, nothing is stopping any of the Trumps from donating their own money, or encouraging direct donations to St. Jude, the organization that was allegedly going to receive the money (anytime the Trumps and charity are mentioned,  allegedly  is appropriate until it actually happens). But for them to think it is in any way OK to sell access to Ivanka no matter the reason is just asinine. It s conflicts like this that caused Obama to prohibit members of his family from directly raising money for anyone, no matter the cause:The Obama administration prohibited any member of the first family from directly soliciting charitable donations, said Norm Eisen, who served as an ethics lawyer early in President Obama s tenure. Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, have attended occasional charitable fund-raising events, including the Congressional Black Caucus annual dinners. The Obamas also allowed their daughters  high school to auction off magazines they had signed, Mr. Eisen said, but they did not auction off access to themselves. You never, ever want to have government officials using their public office for the private gain, even for a worthy charity,  Mr. Eisen said.  That was how we did it. Eric Trump, like his father, whined that he can t raise money by selling his sister despite getting by just fine without that sort of thing in the past. I get that people will try to use anything they can for their own interests,  Trump said.  The reality is, I ve been raising money for sick kids far longer than  his dad has been involved in politics,  Eric Trump told the New York Times, though he did explain that he understands  the quagmire  presented by what he had hoped he would not get caught doing.Naturally, in what is almost becoming a daily ritual, Twitter swarmed Trump s morning bloviating whinefest and once again hammered him into oblivion:@realDonaldTrump Sorry your children can't get the tax deduction on your name. But people should donate DIRECTLY to St. Jude.  Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) December 23, 2016@realDonaldTrump remember when you used Trump foundation money to buy a big picture of yourself? Sell it. Give the kids the cash.  Emma Kennedy (@EmmaKennedy) December 23, 2016@realDonaldTrump You could always quit and let him continue his stellar work. The world will thank you.  Cameron Atfield (@CameronAtfield) December 23, 2016@realDonaldTrump Just an idea. Maybe spend some of that nuke money on helping kids?  Matt Peterson (@mattbpete) December 23, 2016@realDonaldTrump Your "wonderful son" was trying to sell access to you in the name of charity. SHAME! #draintheswamp  Neal Gottlieb (@nealhgottlieb) December 23, 2016.@realDonaldTrump Yeah quit your bullshit, and quit using sick kids to do it. Write a fucking check like the rest of us.@EricTrump  NastyCoCo (@HeadOColettuce) December 23, 2016@realDonaldTrump @realDonaldTrump BEFORE YOU GO ANY FURTHER   he was selling access to you, exactly what you railed on Hillary about  Buster (@Americas_Dad) December 23, 2016@realDonaldTrump He is no longer allowed to auction off access to a powerful family. Do you really not understand this? Quit whining. Lead.  Kim Wright (@Kim_Wright_W) December 23, 2016@realDonaldTrump No, it's not wrong and you ragged on Clinton you early stage dementia patient.  Andrew Mastrandonas (@AndrewMinDC) December 23, 2016@realDonaldTrump YES was the wrong answer to "Do you want to be president" if you wished your grifter family to avoid high profile conflicts  Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) December 23, 2016@realDonaldTrump HRC's foundation brings HIV treatment drugs to thousands of Africans and you painted it as beyond evil. #hypocriteTrump  Doug (Jax) Taylor (@DougyLuvFoxy) December 23, 2016Interestingly, Trump neglected to mention that Eric Trump s foundation was busted funneling nearly  $1 million to his father s businesses, nor did he tell people about the fact that his son lies about where the money goes or the fact that the ETF spent $25,000 on a painting of Eric s dad. The Daily Beast reports:Though the Eric Trump Foundation s website says,  We exclusively support St. Jude Children s Research Hospital,  that isn t the case. In 2012, ETF began donating in earnest to other causes, cutting small checks to 40 individual charities in addition to the outsize donation given to the children s hospital. Some of these small donations like the $1,600 to the American Society for Enology and Viticulture, a California wine industry organization where Eric Trump once gave a keynote address have seemingly little to do with the charity s mission of helping sick children.By 2013, it had given $15,000 to The Little Baby Face Foundation, a controversial charity run by a Manhattan plastic surgeon that provides surgery for children with big noses, large ears, and other more serious facial deformities so they can face bullies at school one which critics have warned sends a warped message to such young children.Despite the claim that all the gifts in ETF s silent auction would be donated, the foundation also paid $25,000 to an artist s foundation in exchange for a portrait of Donald Trump that was sold at the 2012 Golf Invitational to Eric Trump, who hung it over his livingroom sofa. Eric Trump did not respond to a request for comment seeking the purchase price.Would the money have actually gone to St. Jude? There s truly no way of knowing given the previous lies and shady dealings   but it is never OK for the President s family to sell access, period.Featured image via screengrab/Getty Images (Jeff J. Mitchell)