Overview
- Commercials and a call-in recording featuring Mike Huckabee promoting Relaxium aired in Washington, D.C., and some were taken down after media inquiries, though versions remained on company social pages.
- Huckabee disclosed $414,683 in spokesman fees from Relaxium’s maker in the year before his February nomination and reported that he anticipated residual advertising payments of unknown value.
- The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem said the ads were produced before his appointment, do not identify him as an ambassador, and that he has no legal right to compel their removal under his licensing agreement.
- Federal rules bar using public office for private gain or endorsing products, and ethics specialists Walter Shaub and Peter Loge criticized Huckabee’s ongoing association with the supplement.
- Relaxium’s manufacturer received an FDA warning in April over inspection findings and paid a $925,000 judgment in 2023 related to auto‑renewal practices, adding scrutiny to the partnership.