What’s New
Donald Trump’s eldest daughter Ivanka Trump is still an “informal adviser” to the president-elect, a longtime friend of hers told CNN in an article published Sunday.
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s transition team via email for comment as well as Affinity Partners, the investment firm of Ivanka’s husband Jared Kushner, for comment from Ivanka and Kushner Sunday afternoon.
Why It Matters
Trump has long tapped his family members to help him run the White House. During his first term, Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner served as senior advisers to the president.
During Trump’s first term, Ivanka focused on “education and economic empowerment of women and their families,” as well as “job creation and economic growth through workforce development, skills training and entrepreneurship,” according to an old White House profile.
In November 2022, shortly after Trump announced that he would run for president for a third time, Ivanka said on Instagram that she would not be in the political spotlight moving forward.
“I love my father very much,” she wrote. “This time around, I am choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family. I do not plan to be involved in politics.”
What To Know
Maggie Cordish, a longtime friend of Ivanka who joined her in the White House for a stint working on paid family leave issues, told CNN in an article titled, “Ivanka Trump is done with politics and says she isn’t coming back,” published Sunday, “She’s still his daughter, and a trusted voice, so in that sense an informal adviser, as we all are with our family members.”
An unnamed source that CNN said is familiar with Ivanka’s “thinking” told the outlet that if she does choose to share her opinion and have influence in the next administration, “It’s never going to be something that people are going to see publicly.”
What People Are Saying
Ivanka said on the Lex Fridman Podcast in July, “For politics, it’s a pretty dark world. There’s a lot of darkness, a lot of negativity, and it’s just really at odds with what feels good for me as a human being. And it’s a really rough business. So, for me and my family, it feels right to not participate.”
She explained her decision to leave politics was “rooted in me being a parent.” She has three children with Kushner.
“And I know today the cost they would pay for me being all in, emotionally, in terms of my absence at such a formative point in their life,” she said. “And I’m not willing to make them bear that cost.”
A representative for Trump told CNN in a statement for its Sunday article, “Ivanka proudly spearheaded the White House’s efforts and promoted the administration’s success” on policies such as criminal justice reform, fighting against human trafficking as well as workforce development.
What Happens Next
Kushner, who focused on Middle East foreign policy during Trump’s first term, is also expected to shy away from a formal role in Trump’s second administration.
Two sources familiar with Kushner’s “current thinking,” as CNN put it, said in an article from November 15 that Trump’s son-in-law is not likely to take a formal position in the White House, but rather is likely to be an outside adviser.
Meanwhile, Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, was tapped by Trump to be U.S. ambassador to France during his second term.
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