Here are Ivanka Trump's 8 Political Controversies That Went Public

Ivanka Trump's 8 Political Controversies

Ivanka Trump is a formidable figure from the Trump family even though she has been currently absent from her father, Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign. The former First Daughter has been the key member of Trump's political team during his first term at the White House. As per NickiSwift, she had her fair share of controversies while being the senior advisor to her father's political ambitions. "It's about being able to deliver for the forgotten men and women that I met over the course of two years as I campaigned around this country," she said on CBS' Face of the Nation in 2019. "And over the last two and a half years as I've traveled to almost every state in this nation. It's about providing pathways to opportunity." Listed below are some of her famous controversies that went public. 

1. Used Her White House Position To Promote Personal Fashion Choices

During the 2016 election campaign, Ivanka drew the opportunity to promote her fashion choices to the masses. As per Deadline, while appearing on "60 Minutes" with her father in November 2016, her fine jewelry firm, released a press release about the bracelet she was wearing in the episode, which cost over $10,000. As per CNN, furthermore, it had been reported that following her address at the Republican National Convention in July 2016, Ivanka posted a link to her clothing on her official X account, allowing her admirers to shop it online.  “Shop Ivanka’s look from her #RNC speech,” she wrote about the 'Ivanka Trump Sleeveless Studded Sheath Dress' which retailed for $138 and instantly sold out. As per The New York Times, claiming diminishing sales as the basis for their decision, Nordstrom declared in February 2017 that it would no longer be carrying Ivanka's stilettos line. “We’ve said all along we make buying decisions based on performance,” Nordstrom issued a statement. “In this case, based on the brand’s performance, we’ve decided not to buy it for this season.” However, the former president tweeted in aid of his daughter,  "My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom," he wrote. "She is a great person — always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!" The straightforward move by Nordstrom to cease carrying Ivanka's apparel line sparked a wave of dubious moral and political actions. "For years, Ivanka Trump has ignored public reports of awful labor conditions at a factory that makes her shoes," Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement in 2017. "Now, she must decide whether she can ignore the Chinese government's apparent attempt to silence an investigation into those worker abuses." It was later reported that workers in factories that contributed to the production of Trump's goods received pitiful wages.

2. Used Her Personal Email For White House Correspondence 

During her stint as a senior advisor in the White House, Ivanka broke a major ethical rule. As per The Washington Post, when White House ethics officers went through emails collected by five Cabinet agencies in response to a public records lawsuit, they discovered that Ivanka had frequently used her official email. That assessment showed that she frequently used a private email account with a domain that she shares with her husband, Jared Kushner, to discuss or convey official White House business over a large portion of 2017. As per BBC, Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for Trump's counsel Abbe Lowell, stated: "Ms. Trump sometimes used her private account, almost always for logistics and scheduling concerning her family." He went on to add that Ivanka never created a private server and never sent any information that was classified. "The account was never transferred or housed at Trump Organization, no emails were ever deleted, and the emails have been retained in the official account in conformity with records preservation laws and rules." 

3. Proximity To International Spies

A longtime acquaintance of Ivanka was a former British spy who provided information to the FBI during its investigation into Trump's presidential campaign. As per Reuters, an unidentified member of the Trump family and former British foreign intelligence officer Christopher Steele's friendship was detailed in a report released in 2019 by the Inspector General of the U.S. Justice Department. The report examined certain aspects of the FBI's investigation into potential collusion between Russia and Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. According to Steele's testimony to investigators, he had visited a Trump family member at Trump Tower in New York and had "been friendly" with them for "some years," so he was, if anything, "favorably disposed" toward the family. Ivanka was the unidentified family member referenced in the report, according to a person familiar with their friendship. Steele called his contact with the unidentified Trump family member "personal" and mentioned that he had given the person a present, a Scottish plaid belonging to the Steele family.

4. Defended Her Father Amid Sexual Scandal

The infamous "grab them by the pussy" tape leaked online in October 2016, causing outrage over the Republican leader bragging about sexual assault. Amid the scandal, Ivanka defended her father alleging that he is "not a groper". "Look, I’m not in every interaction my father has," she said. "But he’s not a groper. It’s not who he is. And I’ve known my father obviously my whole life and he has total respect for women,"  she said during an interview with CBS This Morning in 2016. "I found it to be pretty disturbing, based on the facts as I know them, and obviously I very much know them," she continued. "I was bothered by it, but it’s largely been discredited since." As per Cosmopolitan, the former senior advisor of the Trump administration continued to express her opinion that her father is an advocate for women, mentioning in particular that he had helped to advance women in the construction industry at a time when it was "unheard of." 

5. Refused To Testify Against Her Father's Financial Fraud

As per The Guardian, Ivanka initially avoided any media attention and refused to testify in New York court against her father's $250m civil fraud trial. She cited her busy schedule to be exempted from being on the witness stand. “Ms. Trump, who resides in Florida with her three minor children, will suffer undue hardship if a stay is denied and she is required to testify at trial in New York in the middle of a school week, in a case she has already been dismissed from, before her appeal is heard,” her lawyers said in a legal filing. Additionally, they contended that since the former First Daughter had not resided or been employed in New York since 2017, she was outside the purview of the Manhattan civil court. However her request was denied, “Application for interim stay pending decision on the motion is denied,” the judges wrote. As per CNBC, New York Attorney General Letitia James called out her request as a “drastic” and baseless move that “would upend an ongoing trial.” 

6. Benefitted Financially From Her White House Position 

Despite their decision to forgo compensation for their advising duties in the White House, Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, were later found to have reaped significant financial rewards from their positions. Ivanka and Kushner earned between $172 million and $640 million in 2021, according to Crew, while doing their duties in the White House. The Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C. provided a sizable portion of their income. In 2017, Ivanka earned about $13 million from the hotel; however, between 2017 and 2019, her annual income decreased to approximately $1.5 million from over $4 million. Russian trademarks for Ivanka Trump's company were renewed just one month before her father's election to the presidency. Ivanka's company received preliminary permission for three Chinese trademarks in 2017 on the same day that she had dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Her company also received Japanese trademarks right after her father won the elections. 

7. Evasive About Paternity Rights

In September 2016, Ivanka was questioned by Cosmopolitan about a childcare and maternity leave scheme that her father had suggested before the election in November 2016. "So it's meant to benefit, whether it's in same-sex marriages as well, to benefit the mother who has given birth to the child if they have legal married status under the tax code," she tried to explain without any concrete idea. "But the original intention of the plan is to help mothers in recovery in the immediate aftermath of childbirth." She went on to add, "The plan, right now, is focusing on mothers, whether they be in same-sex marriages or not," the former president's daughter said while also refusing to discuss the national issue any further.

8. Lied During Deposition 

The 2016 inauguration committee and the Trump Organization were accused of a million-dollar grift by the Mother Jones documents. Attorney General Karl Racine of Washington, DC launched a lawsuit against the Trump Organization and the Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) in January 2020, claiming that the PIC had embezzled charitable contributions to profit the Trump family. He stated, “The Inaugural Committee, a nonprofit corporation, coordinated with the Trump family to grossly overpay for event space in the Trump International Hotel…The Committee also improperly used non-profit funds to throw a private party [at the Trump Hotel] for the Trump family costing several hundred thousand dollars.” As per Mother Jones, Ivanka lied under oath during the December 1 deposition when was asked if she had any “involvement in the process of planning the inauguration.” She replied, “I really didn’t have an involvement.” and testified that if her “opinion was solicited” regarding an inauguration event, she “would give feedback to my father or to anyone who asked my perspective or opinion.”