Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner are still benefiting from the sprawling Trump business empire despite their roles in the White House, financial disclosures show.
The Trump administration released the financial disclosure forms of some White House staff members on Friday night and, according to the New York Times, the First Daughter and her husband “will remain the beneficiaries of a sprawling real estate and investment business still worth as much as $740 million, despite their new government responsibilities.”
“While removing himself from the management of the businesses is an important step, he is still financially benefiting from how the businesses do,” says former general counsel and chief ethics officer for the Federal Election Commission, Larry Noble, of President Trump. “This presents potential for a conflict of interest. Given his level in the White House and broad portfolio, it’s hard to see how he will recuse himself from everything that may impact his financial interest.”
Kushner’s disclosure forms show that Trump maintains a stake in the Trump hotel in Washington D.C., which critics have said could be used by foreign officials to curry favor with the president. Ivanka Trump’s stake in the hotel earned her between $1 million and $5 million from January 2016 to March 2017.
Kushner serves as senior adviser in the Donald Trump White House, and Ivanka has recently taken an official role in the administration as assistant to the president. Both roles are unpaid to avoid anti-nepotism regulations.
Among the other White House officials whose finances were disclosed by the White House on Wednesday were Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Omarosa Manigault, press secretary Sean Spicer and director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn.
Standouts in the report are Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs employee, reported assets worth $252 million to $611 million. That includes Goldman Sachs income, as well as a number of publicly traded stocks. Bannon earned between $1.3 million and $2.3. million last year, made up of consulting fees from Breitbart News Network and other assets like Bannon Strategic Advisors Inc. and Bannon Film Industries.
Conway’s filing shows that the counselor to the president earned $800,000 last year as the head of her own political consulting firm.