Ivanka Trump Hasn’t Stepped Down as Promised, Investigation Finds
Donald and Ivanka Trump walk on the White House lawn. Image by Getty Images
By Lilly Maier February 3, 2017
Just like her father, Ivanka Trump pledged to resign from all her positions in the family business. But so far, she hasn’t filed the paperwork, a ProPublica investigation found.
“I will take a formal leave of absence from The Trump Organization and my eponymous apparel and accessories brand,” Ivanka Trump wrote in a Facebook post at the beginning of January. “I will no longer be involved with the management or operations of either company.”
The oldest Trump daughter used to be the executive vice president of acquisitions and development at the Trump Organization.
An investigation by ProPublica, an independent journalism non-profit, has found that Ivanka Trump still fulfills many of these duties and responsibilities – at least on paper.
She was listed as running Trump businesses on active state liquor licenses for two golf courses, a restart and a hotel in Florida and New York, as of Thursday afternoon. The documents obtained by ProPublica through open-records requests, can be seen here.
Being listed on a license means that person is considered the responsible manager of a business.
The Trump Organization told ProPublica that Ivanka Trump resigned from all “positions of management and authority” on January 18 and that the company simply hasn’t filed the changes yet.
But both Florida and New York require that any changes in leadership be recorded on liquor licenses within 10 business days. If Ivanka Trump had resigned January 18, the deadline to change the licenses would have been Tuesday, February 1.
Additionally, ProPublica found that Ivanka Trump is still listed in New York state business filings as the chief executive officer of her eponymous jewelry company, and that her personal Twitter account still links to her corporate website. The link was deleted from Trump’s Twitter account an hour after ProPublica published their investigation.
When she announced her move to Washington, Ivanka Trump said she would focus on supporting her family and helping her children get used to their new surroundings. But she has also started advocacy efforts on issues involving women and work, which she had said many times are important to her.
Thursday evening, Ivanka Trump invited a number of high-ranking business leaders into her new home. According to Politico, the meeting was a prime example of “dinner party diplomacy” and meant to “solicit ideas on how to promote women in the workforce and fight for issues like paid maternity leave.”
Among the attendees were Walmart CEO Doug Mcmillan, General Motors CEO Mary Barra and Gary Cohn, Trump’s head of the National Economic Council.
Ivanka Trump is using the same strategy she perfected on the campaign trail. Staying quiet about controversial topics – like her father’s Muslim ban – and working towards policies that help working women.
“Gender is no longer the factor creating the greatest wage discrepancy in this country. Motherhood is,” Ivanka Trump said during her speech at the Republican convention. “Policies that allow women with children to thrive should not be novelties. They should be the norm.”
Lilly Maier is a news intern at the Forward. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter at @lillymmaier
A message from our CEO & publisher 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.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
