Michael Vadon / CC 2.0
Yet another Penn graduate will be working in the White House with the announcement of Ivanka Trump's appointment to the position of assistant to the president.
The Washington Post and The New York Times reported that the new unpaid position grants Trump her own office in the West Wing, security clearance and communication devices. Many of these things were already in the process of being granted to her in a less official capacity, which had raised concerns among ethics experts.
“This [unofficial] arrangement appears designed to allow Ms. Trump to avoid the ethics, conflict-of-interest and other rules that apply to White House employees,” political watchdogs wrote in a letter to White House Counsel Don McGahn, signed by Norman Eisen and Richard Painter, White House ethics lawyers for Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush respectively.
In January, the Justice Department issued a memo stating that anti-nepotism laws do not apply to the White House. This statement was in response to backlash about the ethics of the appointment of Jared Kushner, Ivanka's husband, to the role of senior advisor to the President.
The first daughter graduated from the Wharton School in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. She transferred to Wharton after two years at Georgetown University.
“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,” Trump's oldest daughter told The New York Times.
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