Ivanka Trump, President Donald Trump's eldest daughter and a senior White House political adviser, under scrutiny from the FBI for a business deal she made in the Canadian city of Vancouver.
FBI investigators are looking into the financing and other negotiations behind the Trump International Hotel and Tower, according to CNN. Although it is unclear what exactly has prompted them to look into this particular business deal or what they are concerned they might find, the issue could be connected to Ivanka Trump's ongoing struggles obtaining a security clearance.
The project began to be developed in earnest in 2013, when Ivanka Trump established a close working relationship with the developer, Joo Kim Tiah. Although the Trump Organization doesn't own the property, it receives licensing and marketing fees with a Trump family member (in this case, Ivanka Trump) playing a key role in making creative and other business decisions about the property's development. The Trump Organization earned more than $5 million in royalties from the property and $21,500 in management fees, according to President Trump's June financial disclosure.
"CNN is wrong that any hurdle, obstacle, concern, red flag or problem has been raised with respect to Ms. Trump or her clearance application. Nothing in the new White House policy has changed Ms. Trump's ability to do the same work she has been doing since she joined the Administration," Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for Ivanka Trump's ethics counsel, told CNN.
The news about the FBI looking into one of Ivanka Trump's business dealings comes at a particularly inopportune moment for the Trump family. Ivanka's husband and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner had his security clearance downgraded earlier this week when it was revealed that some of his business relationships had left him vulnerable to being manipulated by foreign powers. While it is unclear if this is the same concern that exists for Ivanka, it wouldn't necessarily need to be to warrant putting her under scrutiny. She was also present when Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey and drafted a misleading statement about the June 2016 meeting between his campaign leaders and a Russian lawyer connected to the Putin regime.
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