I HATE that excuse “there may be an APPEARANCE of a conflict of interest, but, trust us, there really wasn’t any conflict.” That’s always an MSM smokescreen coverup. When they utter that, you KNOW there is a deep conflict of interest and somebody is hauling in big bucks.
Really, ethics demands that even if there is only an appearance of impropriety, you need to resign. Someone who doesn’t just proved they aren’t ethical.