In addition to applying for the new trademarks, Ivanka Trump Marks LLC has won provisional approval from the Chinese government for four since the inauguration. The decision was made, notably, on the same night that Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner dined with President Xi Jinping on steak and Dover sole at Mar-a-Lago.
Perhaps if Ivanka Trump wasn't the new "modern first daughter", her business-separate from that of the Trump family empire and now in a gray area of White House ethics-would have continued to expand. Can Ivanka, as a White House assistant and advisor to the president, be allowed into conversations relating to China policy that might affect her personal interests in the country?
In almost every tale of White House intrigue about the simmering battle between the Bannonites and Trump's more "establishment" advisors, Ivanka Trump is cast as a moderating influence on her father. But to complicate matters further, there are potential conflicts between her company's profits and her father's policies, raising additional questions about what goals her advice to her father advances.
The scenario underscores how hard it is for the president's daughter, to separate business from politics in her new position at the White House.
Ivanka Trump resigned from management at her clothing and accessories company to take a job in her father's administration.
U.S. imports of Ivanka products, the majority from China, increased an estimated 166 percent past year, and sales hit record levels in 2017, with $17.9 million. On the April 18 edition of MSNBC's For The Record, former Fox host and longtime Trump apologist Greta Van Susteren disagreed with her entire panel - Politico's Daniel Lippman, the Chicago Sun Times' Lynn Sweet, and USA Today's Eliza Collins - while defending Ivanka Trump. Jared Kushner, Ivanka's husband and the president's son-in-law, recently oversaw preparations for Xi Jinping's visit to Trump's private membership club in Florida.
Russian Federation slams OPCW over Syria gas probe
Russia Friday pressed ahead Friday for an "objective" investigation of last week's deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria. Zaher al-Sakat, who headed the division of chemical warfare in the Syrian military before fleeing the country.
A top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee blasted the family of President Donald Trump on Tuesday, saying that the approval in China of patents for Ivanka Trump set a new bar for ethical conflicts.
Trump founded the brand in 2007 and still owns it, but stepped back from management and put its assets in a family-run trust before taking on an official role at the White House. According to the Times, Trump and Kushner's businesses are worth as much as $740 million. "I can tell you that they will never succeed".
"Ivanka will not weigh in on business strategy, marketing issues, or the commercial terms of agreements", her attorney, Jamie Gorelick, told the AP in a statement. Thirty-six percent think Ivanka Trump's White House role is appropriate.
"In between, you have to assess it case-by-case", she said.
It is not clear how Trump, now a federal employee, will navigate continuing ties to far-flung foreign business interests.
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