Trump plans to hand out “Fake News” awards – to legitimate news organizations that dare to criticize him. He may get away with it but it’s not so simple for his staff.

“WARNING to White House staff: the president may be exempt from the rules at 5 CFR § 2635.701 et seq. on misuse of position BUT YOU ARE NOT,” tweeted Norm Eisen, who served as White House special counsel for ethics and government reform in the Obama administration.

In his message, Eisen told White House staff that if they help the president deliver the awards they could risk violating provisions of the law that forbid the use of government time and money to harm some members of the media and help others.

And he’s not the only one.

“If any [White House] staffers work on this or post it on the WH website, it will be a violation of the Standards of Conduct,” wrote Walter Shaub, the former director of the Office of Government Ethics, in a supporting tweet directed at the Trump administration’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, on Sunday.

“Beware of laws on using federal appropriations too, if there are any visuals, certificates, handouts, or trophies,” Shaub added.

…

“The Fake News Awards, those going to the most corrupt & biased of the Mainstream Media, will be presented to the losers on Wednesday, January 17th, rather than this coming Monday,” Trump tweeted Sunday. “The interest in, and importance of, these awards is far greater than anyone could have anticipated!”

Details have not been released about how Trump will deliver the awards or whether any members of the White House are involved in coordinating or assisting the president with the project.

The Republican National Committee has been promoting an online poll for the awards after Trump tweeted about the idea of creating a trophy for “the most dishonest, corrupt and/or distorted in its political coverage of your favorite President (me)” in late November.

Definitely normal adult reasonable behavior for a president.