Trump’s daughter to be front and centre in his first foreign tour
IVANKA Trump will travel with her father, the US President, on his trip to Saudi Arabia, Israel and Italy.
Ms Trump, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump, will be along for six days of the nineday trip, a White House adviser said. She will join her father for some events and hold some of her own.
The official said Ms Trump will take part in a round-table discussion in Saudi Arabia on women’s economic issues.
She converted to Judaism when she married husband Jared Kushner (right, with Ivanka). In Israel, she will visit the Western Wall with the President, and in Rome she will discuss human trafficking.
Meanwhile, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, indicted on war crime and genocide charges, will not attend an Islamic summit in Saudi Arabia this weekend at which Mr Trump is a guest of honour, citing private reasons, according to Sudanese state media.
Al-Bashir has instead assigned his minister of state Taha al-Hussein to represent him at the sum- mit in Riyadh, the SUNA news agency said. The summit will bring together more than 50 leaders from Muslim and Arab countries.
Saudi Arabia is holding the event under the slogan Together We Prevail, in hopes of fighting extremist ideologies and co-operating with US and Islamic allies to strengthen economic relations.
The US President will also be accompanied by the First Lady, Melania, on his inaugural overseas trip, a four-country, fivestop tour that began yesterday.
The Trumps will also visit Belgium, and the trip includes an audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican.
The First Lady is joining the President for some events, but will participate in others on her own.
The White House is not releasing a comprehensive itinerary for Mrs Trump, citing se- curity concerns. A native of the central European nation of Slovenia, she said she will spend time at her events speaking to women and children.
The Trumps are scheduled to return to Washington on May 27.
On Thursday it emerged that the US Justice Department has appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller as a special counsel to oversee the federal investigation into allegations that Russia and Donald Trump’s campaign collaborated to influence the 2016 presidential election.
It was a concession by the Trump administration, which had resisted calls from Democrats to turn the investigation over to outside counsel. The White House counsel’s office was alerted only after the order appointing Mr Mueller was signed. In a written statement, Mr Trump insisted again there were no nefarious ties between his campaign and Russia. “A thorough investigation will confirm what we already know — there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity,” he declared.