President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump has assumed a “voluntary” position in the White House described as her father’s “eyes and ears,” but experts say it could put the Trump administration in questionable ethical territory.
Ivanka Trump will have her own office on the second floor of the West Wing, Politico reported on March 20. In addition to an office, Ivanka will also receive security clearance and government-issued communications devices this week.
However, she will not be an official government employee. Ivanka will not be sworn in, she will not have an official title or position, and she won’t receive a salary, her attorney, Jamie Gorelick, told Politico. She will function as President Trump’s “eyes and ears,” her attorney said.
According to Politico, people close to Ivanka Trump said that she sees nothing unusual about the arrangement — it’s simply how she has worked with her father for years, as a senior official at the Trump Organization and as Donald Trump’s partner on “The Apprentice.”
But in the White House, the unprecedented arrangement for a child of the president has raised new questions about potential conflicts of interest — and about why Ivanka Trump can’t simply join the administration as a government employee. Her husband, Jared Kushner, serves as an official senior adviser in the White House and was sworn in, but his hiring also raised questions of whether it violated anti-nepotism laws. The Justice Department ruled that those laws applied only to agency appointments.
Media reports say Ivanka Trump has long been a trusted adviser to her father, from her capacity as executive vice president of real-estate development and acquisition in the Trump Organization, to her past involvement in Trump’s administration.
Before her arrival in the West Wing, Ivanka reportedly participated in a number of events with the president, including meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe; trips with the president and his cabinet members; bill signings in the Oval Office; and meetings in the West Wing.
