Ivanka Trump revealed in a recent interview that her father had considered appointing her to a job at the World Bank.
"He did ask me about that, but I love the work that I am doing," Trump told the Associated Press (AP), adding that "myself and Secretary Mnuchin, we oversaw the process of selecting the final candidate and bringing multiple candidates to the president ultimately for him to make the final decision."
"We had a strong preference, David Melpass was unanimously confirmed, and he's going to do an unbelievable job. He also cares deeply about women's economic empowerment and knows that the mission of the World Bank is to eradicate poverty, and one of the smartest ways to do that is by targeting women – the education of women and girls, skills training, economic opportunities. So we're very aligned, and I'm incredibly excited to work with him, and we're here at a World Bank conference doing exactly that."
When the interviewer from the AP followed up by asking whether the president had nearly appointed his daughter as U.N. ambassador, she chuckled. "I'll keep that between us," Trump responded.
The news that Ivanka Trump was nearly appointed to a position at the World Bank follows a recent report from "Vanity Fair" revealing that the president's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka's husband Jared Kushner, have taken "a more aggressive approach to internal politics":
While Trump relishes the prospect of going after his opponents, his family is acting emboldened in the post-Mueller environment. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, in particular, are taking a more aggressive approach to internal politics, sources said. “Jared is totally relieved about Mueller. He feels they’ve been completely exonerated. The criminal liability has gone away,” a source who spoke recently with Kushner told me.
A former West Wing official said Kushner’s influence has never been stronger. “He’s running the R.N.C. He’s running the campaign,” the official said. “You have to go through Jared on everything,” a Republican close to the White House said. “He’s the kingmaker.”
The extent of the influence wielded by Trump and Kushner has been underscored in a number of ways. They were allegedly responsible for pushing out former White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and attempting to replace him with someone more friendly to their own interests: Nick Ayers.
Ms. Trump and Mr. Kushner’s efforts on behalf of Mr. Ayers were widely seen as a coup attempt, started on behalf of a president, who was unhappy with Mr. Kelly but could not bring himself to fire him. Mr. Ayers’ rejection of the offer stunned the couple, who had long resisted Mr. Kelly’s attempt to bend them to a traditional White House hierarchy.
As far back as 2017, during the early weeks of Trump's administration, it was reported by Bloomberg that China was eschewing traditional channels for exercising diplomacy and instead reaching out to members of the president's immediate family to assert their interests.
"As countries around the world figure out how to influence the new U.S. administration, China is going straight to the top: Trump’s immediate family," wrote Bloomberg. "In bypassing more traditional diplomatic channels such as the State Department, China is looking to open a more direct link to help avoid a trade war or military confrontation after Trump signaled a willingness to challenge Beijing’s red lines on Taiwan and the South China Sea."
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