Advertisement

Everything We Know About Ivanka's West Wing Office

Photo credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Photo credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

From Town & Country

Since her father's inauguration in January, Ivanka Trump's role within his administration has steadily gained visibility. She's taken on a wide variety of projects ranging from the ceremonial (attending a Broadway show with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau) to the more politically substantial (writing a portion of President Trump's first address to the joint Congress), and now, it has been announced that she will officially become a federal employee, the first first daughter in history to serve in her father's administration.

Just last week, Ivanka's lawyer Jamie Gorelick announced that the first daughter would have her own office in the West Wing of the White House.

Gorelick, who serves as an attorney and ethics adviser for Ivanka, also shared that Trump will be receiving security clearance to access classified information and government-issued communications devices. At the time, Gorelick said that Ivanka would not be taking on an "official" government position within the Trump White House, though she would be voluntarily following ethics rules that apply to government employees.

Ivanka has since chosen to take the official position of special assistant to the president in response to questions regarding her promise to voluntarily comply with the ethics rules for government employees.

“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 said in a statement on Wednesday.

“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,” a spokeswoman for the president said in an email to the New York Times.

“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.”

Last week, it was also revealed that this office has been in the works for months. Maggie Haberman, White House correspondent for the New York Times, tweeted that "the office Ivanka is taking has been held aside for her since Trump took office, per two ppl briefed."

Haberman continued, "As time went on, it became clear she couldn't do the advocacy work she wanted to do without being there more formally/she went through...process to be able to work there, per one of the people briefed."

Clearly Ivanka's proximity to her father is a key factor in this new arrangement, though exactly where her office will be located remains to be seen. CNN has put together a map of the West Wing, illustrating which offices belong to which employees. The map indicates five offices are currently open on the second floor.

While Ivanka's move is certainly unprecedented as an adult first daughter; she isn't the first presidential family member to take an office there. In 1993, then-First Lady Hillary Clinton broke decades of tradition by operating out of the West Wing.

[related id='3a97926e-482e-40fe-9742-370c071c86e1' align='center'][/related]

[related id='3a566f60-7309-4be8-a57e-c946f13eb94c' align='center'][/related][related id='083e64d9-6cb5-4da6-a0d4-7eb332a6fd86' align='center'][/related]

You Might Also Like