Ivanka Trump has recently become the first child of a president to become an employee of the White House. It was announced this past Wednesday that Ms. Trump will be an unpaid employee of the White House with an office in the West Wing.
Ms. Trump will sanctioned as an advisor to the president. She will advise her father, President Donald J. Trump and focus on matters linked to women in the workplace, parental leave, childcare and job training. According to Ms. Trump, all of the rules that apply to other federal employees will apply to her as well.
The idea to make public the specifications of her role within the Trump administration came about after several citizens — and critics alike — revealed their skepticism about what exactly Ms. Trump will be doing within her father’s administration. Ms. Trump will also file a form 278, which means that she will now be legally obligated by the ethical rules of being a federal employee.
Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband and senior advisor to the president, is also serving the White House as an unpaid government employee. Ms. Trump’s office in the West Wing will be upstairs away from her husband’s.
Ms. Trump’s recent rise in ranks has pushed critics to observe that this may be a violation of a nepotism law that was passed in 1967. The law states that no public official, from the president down to a low-level manager at a federal agency, may hire or promote a relative. However, the law also states that any appointee found to have violated the law is not entitled to pay by the federal government. This may be the reason why Ms. Trump and Kushner have been able to work within the Trump administration as unpaid advisors.
After Kushner joined the Trump administration this past January, the Justice Department stated that his position as senior advisor to the president did not violate these federal anti-nepotism laws.
Ms. Trump took a leave of absence from her personal accessories brand, as well as her father’s real estate business, following her husband’s appointment as senior advisor. She is currently getting government-issued security and communications devices related to her form 278. Ethics critics argue that this would enable her to avoid some financial disclosure rules.
As Ms. Trump’s political role continues to receive more exposure, the public and critics have also continued to openly express their mixed reactions. Some believe that Ms. Trump is forcing herself to appear more conservative than she really is and — in fact — does not share a lot of her father’s political views. Other people see something different; some believe that she is adequately prepared for the position.
People believe this because she has worked well with her father for some time. She served as Executive Vice President of Real Estate Development and Acquisition at the Trump Organization. She also helped out her father with his 2016 presidential campaign.
Many liberals are saying that she has no prior experience in politics and her appointment as an advisor to the president is nothing but nepotism. Hope Hicks, a White House spokeswoman, stated that Ms. Trump’s role as an unpaid employee gives her more opportunities to pass policy upon the country, a power which would not have been available to her had her father not been elected president.
Doug Wead, author of “All the President’s Children,” said that the power of a child of a president is both very important and very unique because it is a power that not even White House Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon possesses — a tie that close with the president.
Kate Anderson Bower, author of “First Women: The Grace and Power of America’s Modern First Ladies,” expressed her concern that Ms. Trump is someone who cannot be fired because she is a direct family member. She questions whether this is an ethical way to run a presidential administration.
Critics say that it is perfectly appropriate for a president to rely on family members for advice. However, granting a family member an official role within a presidential administration is not something that most presidents do.
Other critics have compared Ms. Trump’s current situation to that of past President George W. Bush, whose own father was also president. Like Ms. Trump, Bush worked within his father’s campaign, but, conversely, was not involved in high level policy meetings while his father was president.
Still, critics are saying that President Trump’s appointment of his daughter as an advisor has given her more access and influence than President Bush ever had under his father.
