Ivanka Trump Faces More Scrutiny for Potential Role in Her Father’s Administration

Ivanka Trump is coming under more scrutiny for her potential influence in her father’s presidential administration, the New York Times reports.

Trump vowed after the election that she’d continue to fight for the issues she cared about as first daughter without a formal role in the administration. But in recent weeks, reports have suggested that Trump might play a larger role, after all. On Monday, CNN reported that Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, are planning to move to D.C., only heightening speculation that the couple will have a large influence on her father’s presidency — even though nepotism laws may ban both Trump and Kushner from taking on formal positions in his administration.

The New York Times also reported over the weekend that when House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi wanted to discuss women’s issues with President-Elect Donald Trump, he gave the phone to his daughter, who advocated for equal pay and maternity leave on the campaign trail (though not without criticism.) Facebook chief operating officer and women’s empowerment advocate Sheryl Sandberg also reached out to the future first daughter to have “a dialogue” on issues pertaining to women, the Times reported.

And recent reports have suggested Trump might take up climate change as another cause célèbre — even though her father famously tweeted in 2012 that climate change was created by the Chinese and called global warming a “hoax” in 2014. The Times reported that Leonardo DiCaprio provided Trump with a copy of his climate change documentary Before the Flood, and Trump met with met with former Vice President and climate change advocate Al Gore to discuss the issue on Monday.

But as Trump’s influence in her father’s administration seems to grow, more questions emerge about potential conflict of interests. The President-Elect has said that his children will run the family business under a blind trust to avoid the appearance of conflict of interests. But his daughter has already been accused of trying to profit off the presidency. During her family’s appearance on 60 Minutes after the election, Trump’s company touted the $10,800 bracelet she wore during the interview. (Her company later said it was making adjustments.)

And last month, she sat in on her father’s meeting last month with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which raised eyebrows. Her attendance at the meeting raised even more concerns on Monday when the Times reported that her company is nearing a licensing deal with a Japanese apparel company — and the largest shareholder of that company is the Japanese government.