From #UnwantedIvanka to 'Nipples' Cameo at UN: Top-5 Controversies Surrounding US First Daughter

US President Donald Trump’s arguably favourite first daughter Ivanka Trump has received much flak in the past few years for being increasingly involved in the country’s policy-making.

The President’s oldest daughter, who was born to then real-estate mogul Donald Trump and model Ivana Trump, his first wife, is currently a key adviser in her father's White House.

Prior to taking on her role in the White House, the 38-year-old had been a business executive, runway model, socialite, a mother-of-three.

Here are just some of the key controversies that have been linked with Ivanka Trump’s name.

White House Adviser

Ivanka Trump, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in economics, started officially working for her father in 2005.

In addition to helping run the Trump Organisation, she launched a jewellry collection in 2007, and created her own fashion and lifestyle brand, The Ivanka Trump Collection, thereafter.

After her Father was elected US President, Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner in 2017 moved to Washington DC, as both relinquished control of their many business ventures, taking on roles as key White House advisers shaping the administration's policy.

Ivanka Trump became a full-time adviser to the President in March 2017 after informally advising her father, Donald Trump, during the first two months of his administration.

The President’s daughter decided to assume an official role as an unpaid government employee in an attempt to mitigate the ethical controversy over her position in the administration.

“While there is no modern precedent for an adult child of the president, I will voluntarily follow all of the ethics rules placed on government employees,” she said at the time.

There had been no precedent where someone whose father was president worked in the White House, although two presidents – Andrew Jackson and James Buchanan – had their nieces serve in the role of first lady since Jackson was a widower and Buchanan a bachelor.

While critics pointed out her lack of government experience, defenders noted her father had run a campaign explicitly on his record as a businessman and on taking an unconventional approach to governing.

The President's eldest daughter does not receive a paycheck for her work, according to White House records, reporting to work regularly at the White House, where she has a second-floor West Wing office.

E-Mail Scandal

Ivanka Trump found herself in hot water when the Washington Post reported in November 2018 that she conducted government business using a private email account, in violation of federal records rules.

Many saw the First Daughter’s use of a private email to be hypocritical, after her father called for his former Democratic presidential opponent Hillary Clinton to be "locked up" over her use of non-government email while serving as secretary of state.

A spokesperson for Ivanka's ethics counsel at the time told the Post that Ivanka was unaware that using a private email for government business violated records rules, and emphasized that she never discussed classified information on her private email.

The scandal kicked off in mid-November 2018, when Carol Leonnig and Josh Dawsey at the Washington Post reported that Ivanka Trump sent hundreds of emails to aides, Cabinet officials, and her assistant using a private email account she shares with her husband, Jared Kushner.

The revelations immediately provoked comparisons to Hillary Clinton, who during her 2016 presidential campaign was dogged by the scandal surrounding her use of a private server for emails as secretary of state.

President Trump said his daughter “did some emails early on and for a little period of time.”

“It’s all in the presidential records. Everything is there. There was no deleting. There was no nothing… What it is is a false story.” Donald Trump said.

'I Shared my Perspective'

Trump's decision to bomb Syria in April 2017 was influenced by his daughter, Ivanka, being "heartbroken and outraged" at the country's alleged chemical weapons attack, the President’s son, Eric Trump told the media at the time.

"Ivanka is a mother of three kids and she has influence," Eric Trump said. “I’m sure she said, “Listen, this is horrible stuff.” My father will act in times like that."

Donald Trump ordered the launch of 59 Tomahawk missiles on 6 April 2017 at a Syrian government air base he alleged was involved in a chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of civilians.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was asked about Ivanka at the daily press briefing and said: "There's no question Ivanka and others weighed in."

Ivanka Trump was later quoted by Politico as telling reporters:

“That would be a flawed interpretation... It was informed at the highest levels of military and state... I, of course, shared my perspective and opinion. It aligned with his own.” 

#UnwantedIvanka

Ivanka Trump again raised eyebrows at the 2019 G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, when she took on the role of a diplomat, attending official meetings alongside her father, and even delivered an official readout from Trump's meetings with the leaders of Japan and India.

But the most memorable Ivanka-related moment of the trip came courtesy of a viral video that was originally posted to Instagram by the office of French President Emmanuel Macron in a move some think was calculated to embarrass the White House.

The 19-second clip shows a gesticulating and smiling first daughter supposedly trying to insert herself into a conversation between a group of world leaders, including the UK's departing Prime Minister Theresa May, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and IMF head Christine Lagarde.

​In the footage, the officials seem to have shifted their bodies away from her and look away as she speaks, giving the impression Ivanka Trump is desperately trying to offer her opinion to the quartet, while they are disregarding her.

The video spawned a #UnwantedIvanka hashtag that featured images of the first daughter being photoshopped into a range of notable historical events.

Later, an official from the French President’s office was quoted as saying the Élysée Palace didn't mean to embarrass POTUS's daughter, claiming the Instagram story was made against the backdrop of a "larger narrative in the US about Ivanka's diplomatic role".

Wardrobe Malfunction

Ivanka Trump may have rocked a chic business look for the UN General Assembly in 2019, but a possible wardrobe malfunction on 23 September had seemed to offer the attendees from all around the world more than a glimpse of the outline of her nipples through her shirt, leaving many guessing if perhaps she had forgotten to pack a bra.

​That particular undergarment seemed conspicuously absent as she arrived wearing a thin blue blouse while she watched her father Donald Trump‘s speech.

The dress code misstep, as it was perceived, at the time generated quite a buzz on social media, erupting into a frenzy of comments, with many outraged at the flippancy of going seemingly braless at such a high-profile event.