November 18, 2016
WASHINGTON — The potential for conflicts of interest between President-elect Donald J. Trump and his family’s business ventures emerged again Thursday evening, when a photograph was distributed that showed his daughter Ivanka at a meeting between Mr. Trump and the Prime Minister of Japan.
November 18, 2016
WASHINGTON — The potential for conflicts of interest between President-elect Donald J. Trump and his family’s business ventures emerged again Thursday evening, when a photograph was distributed that showed his daughter Ivanka at a meeting between Mr. Trump and the Prime Minister of Japan.
Ivanka Trump at Trump Tower in Manhattan on Thursday. Ms. Trump serves as vice president of development and acquisitions for the Trump Organization.
News media were not allowed to attend the session, Mr. Trump’s first with a foreign head of state, and no summary was provided about what was discussed. A separate photograph was distributed — press photographers were not allowed to cover the event — showing that Jared Kushner, Ms. Trump’s husband, was present for at least part of the gathering.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan said after the meeting that he had had a “very candid discussion” with Mr. Trump. He did not discuss who else attended the gathering or elaborate on the topics discussed.
Ms. Trump will be among the members of the president-elect’s family who will be placed in charge of Mr. Trump’s business enterprises, which include an international chain of hotels with operations in Latin America, Europe and North America.
She serves as vice president of development and acquisitions for the Trump Organization, and the company’s website says one of her “primary focuses has been to bring the Trump Hotel brand to global markets.”
She also owns a jewelry business, Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry, with the Trump Organization describing her as “one of the most recognized and influential young businesswomen today.”
After Mr. Trump’s transition office was asked by The New York Times about allowing Ms. Trump to attend the meeting with the Japanese prime minister, an individual close to the family, who said she did not have authorization to provide her name, hinted that Ms. Trump would not be attending meetings like this in the future.
“Mr. Trump has always encouraged Ivanka and his children to attend meetings with him,” the person close to the family said. “This meeting in question was very informal. However, they obviously need to adjust to the new realities at hand, which they will.”
This week, Ms. Trump’s jewelry company sent out a notice to reporters with a photograph of her wearing a $10,800 gold bangle bracelet that she had worn during an interview her family did with “60 Minutes,” trying to use the appearance as an opportunity to sell more items.
“Please find attached a style alert of Ivanka wearing her favorite bangle from the Metropolis Collection over the weekend on 60 Minutes,” Monica Marder, the vice president of sales at Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry, said in the email.
Danielle Brian of the Project on Government Oversight said regardless of what was discussed at the meeting, it was inappropriate for Ms. Trump to be present at a private meeting among such a small group of people given that she is an executive at a corporation involved in international business development.
These early episodes demonstrate, Ms. Brian said, why Mr. Trump must put his assets into a blind trust, in which an independent party manages them, instead of turning them over to his children to manage, as Mr. Trump has proposed.
“You can’t have people with financial conflicts of interest mixing with White House business,” Ms. Brian said.
The Wall Street Journal, in an editorial on Friday, went so far as to urge Mr. Trump to sell off all his hotels, golf courses and other assets, and the take that cash and turn it over to a blind trust, as that would be the only way to avoid all possible conflicts.
Courtesy: NY Times
