Watchdogs worry as Ivanka Trump takes informal role

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump will have a security clearance, a West Wing office and the ear of her father on important policy matters. But don’t call her an employee.

When it comes to government work, “employee” is more than just a word. That designation triggers an array of transparency and ethical provisions, including a law prohibiting conflicts of interest.

Government watchdogs are concerned that by refusing to call Ivanka Trump an employee, White House counsel Don McGahn could be attempting to give her a loophole if she improperly mingles her government policy roles with her business and financial interests.

In a letter Friday to McGahn, they ask him to reconsider, saying the position as designed “creates a middle space that does not exist.” It is signed by two former White House lawyers and three other transparency and ethics advocates, all of whom have been critical of the Trump administration’s approach to ethics.

“On the one hand, her position will provide her with the privileges and opportunities for service that attach to being a White House employee,” they write. “On the other hand, she remains the owner of a private business who is free from the ethics and conflicts rules that apply to all White House employees.”

The White House rejects that notion.

As an adult first daughter with an interest in politics and a clothing and lifestyle brand of her own, Ivanka Trump is in an unprecedented situation. There’s no protocol for this, said a senior White House official who requested anonymity to discuss a personnel matter. She’s family, not an employee.

Another person close to Ivanka Trump earlier told The Associated Press that Ivanka believes she can offer more independent perspective to her father by not serving as a White House staffer.

Richard Painter, one of the letter’s signatories and President George W. Bush’s chief ethics counselor, said he cannot recall a White House that had such high-powered “non-employees.”

One of the most politically active close relatives of a sitting president was Hillary Clinton. And she successfully fought to be considered a federal employee because of the privacy benefits it involves.

A June 1993 ruling by a federal appeals court enabled Clinton to keep secret the details of the health care reform panel that she led.

Ivanka Trump is choosing to be in a less formal role than her husband, Jared Kushner, who is a senior adviser to the president and, as an employee, must follow the rules.

She has relinquished control of her brand but continues to own and benefit from her businesses.