When news broke after the election that Donald Trump was seeking high level security clearance for his children, the was quick to Twitter to label it as “fake news”:
Fast forward to today and the news that Ivanka Trump will indeed have top level security clearance.
Why does Ivanka Trump need security clearance? That is clearance above and beyond the clearance afforded a family member of the president. In her unpaid role, which has no title, she’ll have high level security clearance, government-issued communication devices and an office inside the White House. All of this smacks of the nepotism of the highest order. Skirting ethics rules forbidding nepotism in such roles by claiming she will be an unpaid volunteer. Ethics experts are rightly expressing concern. From NPR:
In her unpaid role, Ivanka will "continue to be the eyes and ears of her father and provide candid advice as she has for her entire adult life," her attorney, Jamie Gorelick, said in an NPR interview. "She is intending to spend some time on initiatives that she cares about, particularly with regard to women in the workplace."
Ivanka's elevated position has historians and ethics experts questioning the appropriateness of having one of the president's adult children serving directly in the administration, especially while continuing to own a business.
Julian Zelizer, a political historian at Princeton University, says Ivanka's White House role raises concerns such as: "Do the rules apply on nepotism, on conflict of interest, on other kinds of regulations that employees face?"
Not only is she going to have an office inside the White House, it is being reported the office has been held for her since day one, which means Trump once again lied to the American people.
Many have wondered why Ivanka Trump was sitting in on high level meetings with foreign leaders.
Just last week she was seated next to German Chancellor Angela Merkel for meetings regarding relations between the two countries. Why was she seated next to Merkel? This wasn’t a dinner party, these were high level discussions between two nations. She has no experience, no background in such discussion, she has not been hired for such a role and she sure as hell wasn’t elected to it. This isn’t the set of The Apprentice. As Amanda Carpenter at Cosmopolitan notes, this is an absolute insult to working women everywhere:
There’s a word for this: nepotism. And it makes everything Ivanka has done up to this point to position herself as an example for working women into a farce. By taking this role, Ivanka is taking away a life-changing opportunity from another woman, who undoubtedly would have more expertise than the first daughter.
Trump’s spinners will argue the arrangement is not a violation of federal nepotism laws because Ivanka is not being given a salary or title — a stunning symbol of privilege in itself. Ivanka’s too wealthy to need the salary and too well-known to need a title, a slap in the face to women who have toiled for years, for little pay, hoping to work up the ladder and obtain a White House job one day.
It is the ultimate symbol of privilege and Amanda Carpenter’s scorching conclusion is spot on:
Ivanka will continue to pretend she’s a model for working women, applauding herself for having a “seat at the table” with foreign dignitaries, as she did in this Instagram photo. Just remember she’s only sitting in that seat because her daddy let her. That’s not the case for the overwhelming majority of working women in America and we shouldn’t celebrate anyone for whom that is.
Nearly everyone but the most hardcore Trump supporters recognize how extraordinarily inappropriate this is for the Trump White House:
It also bears noting that Ivanka Trump was in charge of opening the D.C. Trump International Hotel and has been intimately involved in his Trump family businesses. Sure, she claims to have distanced herself from her own clothing company. And Donald Trump claimed, but provided no proof, that his sons are now running the business. They basically have a pinky swear not to discuss Trump Organization operations while Trump is in the White House, but Ivanka isn’t held to such rules. She reportedly spent the weekend vacationing in Aspen with her brothers (and an estimated 100 Secret Service agents in tow). Now we have a situation where this unpaid volunteer has top level security clearance, is meeting directly with world leaders and isn’t bound by any of the rules. Do you know who installs unqualified, inexperienced family members to important posts? Dictators like Islam Karimov, the former president of Uzbekistan, who’s daughter was once the wealthiest woman in the former USSR.
Of course, Ivanka joins her husband, Jared Kushner, who is also skirting nepotism laws to work in the White House. His billionaire family was recently given a $400 million from a Chinese company to invest in a new NYC skyscraper.
A company owned by the family of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, stands to receive more than $400 million from a prominent Chinese company that is investing in the Kushners' marquee Manhattan office tower at 666 Fifth Ave.
The planned $4-billion transaction includes terms that some real estate experts consider unusually favorable for the Kushners. It provides them with both a sizable cash payout from Anbang Insurance Group for a property that has struggled financially and an equity stake in a new partnership.
Surely that has nothing to do with the fact Jared Kushner is sitting next to the President of the United States, day in and day out.
So, here we are. Not of this is normal, none of this is okay. But, it’s a new dawn and a new day for America. Up is down and down is up and the Trump family is laughing all the way to the bank.