Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

House Democrats’ Investigation Sets Sights On Ivanka — Carefully

House Democrats did not include Ivanka Trump in their list of 81 people and institutions from whom they requested documents earlier this month as part of the investigation into Donald Trump’s relationship with Russia. But 52 of the 81 requests included requests for documents about Ivanka, suggesting that the House investigation is looking squarely at her as well, the New York Times reported.

The White House has suggested that the document requests are part of an attempt to build a case to impeach Trump. But the documents related to Ivanka have to do with any financial benefits Ivanka may have gained from business with overseas companies or individuals while serving as special assistant to Donald Trump. That would potentially put her in violation of the emoluments clause, which prohibits government officials from receiving gifts from foreign governments.

“She’d be in violation of the Constitution if she was getting any business deals from foreign governments,” Richard W. Painter, a chief ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, told the Times.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, who is leading the House investigation of Trump, said that the 81 requests were just the first ones, and that others could “quite conceivably” follow.

Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @aefeldman

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.