• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 8, 2017

Donald Trump began his presidency declaring an ongoing war with the media. On Wednesday, it escalated to include a well-known consumer brand when he used the White House’s official Twitter account — @POTUS — to retweet a slam against Nordstrom.

“My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person -- always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!,” Trump tweeted on his @realDonaldTrump account when the retailer dropped Ivanka Trump’s line, citing declining sales for her line of branded products.

He then retweeted it on @POTUS, an account that historically has been reserved for official White House business.

The act sparked renewed criticism about ethics of the President of the United States using his office to influence his family’s business interests.

It also comes as a number of brands have been taking increasingly public positions for and against the Trump White house, its policies and actions.

Asked about the use of the @POTUS account to retweet the jab at Nordstrom's and its connection to Trump's family businesses during the White House press briefing, Press Secretary Sean Spicer said, “I think this was less about his family business [than] an attack on his daughter.

“He ran for President. He won. He’s leading this country,” Spicer continued. “And I think for people to take out their concern about his actions or his executive order on members of his family, he has every right to stand up for his family and applaud their business activities, their success.”

Spicer characterized the executive tweet as the action of a father who is proud of his daughter and her accomplishments and that he was standing up for her.

When the question was raised again later in the briefing, Spicer implied Trump took action because he saw it as “a direct attack on his policies and her name. And so there is clearly an attempt for him to stand up for her because she is being maligned because they have a problem with his policies.”

While retailer T.J. Maxx isn’t dropping Ivanka Trump’s line, the company said its T.J. Maxx and Marshalls stores will no longer prominently feature her products but would mix them in with other brands.

Both Nordstrom and T.J. Maxx are among the companies that have been targeted for consumer boycotts by grabyourwallet.org for carrying Trump family brands.