Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, attended a meeting with the prime minister of Japan on Thursday, fueling further questions about potential conflicts of interest in her father’s presidency.
Photos from Trump’s meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe show that Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, were in attendance, the New York Times reported. It’s not clear what was discussed at the meeting.
Ivanka and her siblings are expected to take over Trump’s businesses when he becomes president. She currently serves as the Trump Organization’s vice president for development and acquisitions.
Some called Ivanka’s presence at the meeting “inappropriate” given her business interests.
“You can’t have people with financial conflicts of interest mixing with White House business,” Danielle Brian, of the Project on Government Oversight, told the Times.
A person close to the Trump family noted that Ivanka has frequently accompanied her father to meetings, but that they will “adjust to the new realities at hand.” The person said she will not likely attend meetings like this in the future.
Meanwhile, Kushner is reportedly testing out the legality of following his father-in-law to the White House. He’s consulted at least one lawyer on the whether it would violate federal nepotism rules, and believes that if he places his real estate holdings and the New York Observer into a blind trust, those rules won’t apply. [NYT] — Kathryn Brenzel