After facing an avalanche of accusations of nepotism when the news broke in The Financial Times last week that President Trump was considering nominating his daughter Ivanka to become the head of the World Bank, a White House spokesperson announced today that Ivanka would be intimately involved in the process of choosing the new leader of the international financial institution, but would not herself be a candidate for the office.
Instead, the president’s daughter will work alongside Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to assist in managing the U.S. nomination process for the position, according to a report on The Hill.
“Secretary Mnunchin and Chief of Staff Mulvaney have asked Ivanka Trump to help manage the U.S. nomination process as she’s worked closely with the World Bank’s leadership for the past two years – however, reports that she is under consideration are false,” White House press representative Jessica Ditto said in a statement.
Given Ms. Trump’s lack of experience in the fields of international development and trade economics — the primary wheelhouse of the organization founded to provide temporary loans to low-income countries which were unable to obtain loans commercially — the mere floating of her name sent paroxysms of outrage among members of Congress and within the international financial community.
Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA) sent a caustic tweet upon hearing the initial reports of Ivanka’s potential nomination from an equally critical tweet by Tom Steyer.
Of all the people in US who could be World Bank President, the most qualified is Ivanka Trump, who lost her fashion line & happens to be the daughter of @POTUS. I see.
But first, can you ask @IvankaTrump why Jared still has a security clearance? I can't because she blocked me. https://t.co/YNv3uQmvOG
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) January 12, 2019
Of course, Ivanka Trump’s qualifications for helping pick the next World Bank president are no better than her suitability for the job itself, but at least the potential damage to the international development community will be far less without her overseeing the day to day operations of the institution.
With her and her family under federal investigation as part of the multiple investigations into the Trump Organization and the Trump Foundation, the idea of Ivanka Trump even being seriously considered for the position is ludicrous.
Apparently, someone in the White House read the reactions to the initial reports and nipped the idea in the bud before it could turn into another public relations disaster for the Trump administration.
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Original reporting by Emily Birnbaum at The Hill.