President Donald Trump's eldest daughter will be an unpaid employee working in the West Wing.
"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," Ivanka
Trump said in a statement. "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."
A
source with knowledge of the decision told CNN's Gloria Borger the
decision was made after the "unease" expressed by people about the
nature of her voluntary role, and ethics advocates Norm Eisen and Fred
Wertheimer had sent White House counsel Don McGhan a letter last Friday.
Power couple
Now,
Ivanka Trump will be an "adviser" to the President, and will file her
own Form 278, which means she is legally bound by the ethics rules.
An
unsigned statement from the White House said: "We are pleased that
Ivanka Trump has chosen to take this step in her unprecedented role as
first daughter and in support of the President."
Trump's
attorney, Jamie S. Gorelick, said: "Ivanka's decision reflects both her
commitment to compliance with federal ethics standards and her openness
to opposing points of view. She will file the financial disclosure
forms required of federal employees and be bound by the same ethics
rules that she had planned to comply with voluntarily."
Jared Kushner, Ivanka's husband and a top Trump aide, is also serving the White House as an unpaid government employee.
News of Trump's new title was first reported by The New York Times.
A
White House official confirmed last week that, after a few months
settling into Washington, Trump was officially moving into a West Wing
office and would obtain top-secret security clearance. She will also
receive government-provided communications devices, per the official.
Nepotism?
Ivanka
Trump's elevation has prompted critics to note the potential violation
of the nepotism law, passed in 1967, that says no public official from the President down to a low-level manager at a federal agency may hire or promote a relative.
But
the law states that any appointee found to have violated the law is
"not entitled to pay" by the federal government, which appears to offer
the opportunity for Trump and Kushner to forgo paychecks while still
serving the administration.
When
Kushner officially joined Trump's team in January, the Justice
Department concluded that his post as senior adviser was not in
violation of federal anti-nepotism laws.
"In
choosing his personal staff, the President enjoys an unusual degree of
freedom, which Congress found suitable to the demands of his office,"
wrote Daniel Koffsky, deputy assistant attorney general in the DOJ
Office of Legal Counsel, which serves as interpreter of federal law for
the White House.
Koffsky reasoned
in January that the anti-nepotism law covers only appointments in an
"executive" agency and that the White House Office is not an executive
agency within the law. He cited a separate law that gives the President
broad powers to hire his staff.
That
law authorizes the President to appoint "employees in the White House
office without regard to any other provision of law regulating the
employment or compensation of persons in the government service."
Ivanka
Trump took a formal leave of absence from her eponymous apparel and
accessories brand, as well as the Trump Organization, in January. She
has long been a key trusted adviser to her father, through her young
adulthood to her time as executive vice president of real estate
development and acquisition at the Trump Organization, and, ultimately,
to his 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump will continue in that capacity, serving as the President's "eyes and ears," per Gorelick.
"She
will not be his only source of input and insight, obviously, but she
may be able to provide insights into the concerns of people whom he
might not meet as President," Gorelick told CNN via email last week.
