Pool/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, announced today that she will take an official position in her father’s administration, according to a statement.
This comes as her unofficial role has grown in recent weeks, and she was granted security clearance and a West Wing office, drawing scrutiny from some.
Ivanka Trump will be a special assistant to the president but will not take a salary, she said in a statement first reported by The New York Times.
How first daughter Ivanka Trump’s role at the White House has grown
“I have heard the concerns some have with my advising the president in my personal capacity while voluntarily complying with all ethics rules and I will instead 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 today.
“Throughout this process, I have been working closely and in good faith with the White House Counsel and my personal counsel to address the unprecedented nature of my role.”
She is not the only family member in her household to have a title — Ivanka Trump’s husband, Jared Kushner, is a senior adviser to the president.
The White House released its own statement about the title bump, saying that it is “pleased” by the move.
“Ivanka’s service as an unpaid employee furthers our commitment to ethics, transparency, and compliance and affords her increased opportunities to lead initiatives driving real policy benefits for the American public that would not have been available to her previously,” the White House statement reads.
When her increased security clearance and West Wing office were announced, Ivanka Trump acknowledged that “there is no modern precedent for an adult child of the president.”
The official title makes her existing role more formalized, though she has been no stranger to the White House. She has been present for family events — like the various inauguration celebrations — as well as closed-door meetings and sit-downs with foreign leaders.
In February, she met Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the White House, where they were part of a roundtable discussion on female entrepreneurs, and she met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. When German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the White House earlier this month, Ivanka Trump was seated right beside her.
Ivanka Trump’s involvement in business roundtable discussions could be attributed to her business background at her namesake fashion label and her father’s real estate empire, but she has also had a say in other causes that she is passionate about. When Donald Trump held a listening session about domestic and international human trafficking on Feb. 23, he started his remarks by thanking Ivanka Trump and then–senior counselor for economic initiatives Dina Powell “for working so hard to set this up.”
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