Ivanka’s hired
Gov’t gig as unpaid adviser to Dad amid ethics ‘unease’
WASHINGTON — Ivanka Trump is making it official after all.
President Trump’s oldest daughter — and a longtime confidant who already had an office in the West Wing — has decided to officially become a government employee.
The move comes after experts raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest between her work in the private sector, including her clothing company, and her expanding role at the White House.
“I have heard the concerns some have with my advising the President in my personal capacity while voluntarily complying with all ethics rules, and I will instead serve as an unpaid employee in the White House office, subject to all of the same rules as other federal employees,” she said in a statement Wednesday.
“Throughout this process, I have been working closely and in good faith with the White House counsel and my personal counsel to address the unprecedented nature of my role.”
Her new title: special assistant to the President.
She had originally planned to remain an unofficial adviser to her father — but reportedly has been ramping up her work there in recent weeks, including applying for a security clearance.
That setup had raised concerns from Democrats.
“Ms. Trump’s increasing, albeit unspecified, White House role, her potential conflicts of interest, and her commitment to voluntarily comply with relevant ethics and conflict-of-interest laws have resulted in substantial confusion,” Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) said in a joint letter to the Office of Government Ethics earlier Wednesday.
Putting Ivanka on the payroll — even without pay — means she’ll file financial disclosure forms and FIRST LADY Melania Trump — in a rare appearance on Wednesday — called on the public to embrace women and diversity. “We must continue once again to shine a light on the horrendous atrocities taking place around the corner and around the globe,” she said before presenting the State Department’s International Women of Courage Awards (left). “We must continue to fight injustice in all its forms, in whatever scale or shape it takes in our lives.” The ceremony in Washington honored women across the world who have battled domestic violence and gender bias. The First Lady did not mention her husband during her 10-minute speech. be required to abide by federal ethics rules.
A source told CNN that the decision was made after the “unease” expressed by people about the nature of Ivanka’s voluntary role.
The White House said in a statement that her move “furthers our commitment to ethics, transparency and compliance and affords her increased opportunities to lead initiatives driving real policy benefits for the American public that would not have been available to her previously.”
Ivanka Trump’s lawyer, Jamie Gorelick, said the First Daughter “will file the financial disclosure forms required of federal employees.”
Gorelick told The New York Times that Trump will “be bound by the same ethics rules that she had planned to comply with voluntarily.”
Her husband, Jared Kushner, is already on staff as a senior adviser.