Ivanka Trump Taking Official Job In White House

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By Daniel J. Solomon March 29, 2017

Ivanka Trump will become an unpaid special assistant in her father’s White House, the Trump administration announced late Wednesday, ending months of speculation about whether the first daughter would have a formal role in the government.

“I will … 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, stressing that she would abide by all necessary disclosure and ethics requirements.

Politicos were anticipating news about her place in the White House, after a story broke that she would be soon moving into a West Wing office. She and her husband Jared Kushner, a senior adviser to Trump, are seen as crucial behind-the-scenes players in crafting policies and managing crises.

But the Trump administration’s mingling of family and White House personnel has raised questions about anti-nepotism rules. The Justice Department under Attorney General Jeff Sessions cleared Kushner’s appointment as not in violation with those regulations, even as others have disagreed with that assessment.

It was not immediately known which issues Trump would focus her attention on, but she has previously expressed interests in matters like family leave, climate change and women’s empowerment.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at solomon@forward.com or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

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