First daughter Ivanka Trump and her high-profile husband Jared Kushner appear to be systematically getting their wings clipped by White House and State Department officials.
Even as Kushner’s wide portfolio of major issues and great influence with the President are seeing some shrinkage because of White House Chief of Staff John Francis Kelly, his wife is being snubbed by the State Department headed by Rex Tillerson.
The refusal to send an entourage of high-profile state department members along with Ivanka Trump as she heads for India – to speak at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit that commences in two days, on Tuesday, November 28 – looks like a clear message that the State Department will not pander to the whims of the White House and its occupants.
A senior State Department official told CNN:
“They won’t send someone senior because they don’t want to bolster Ivanka. No one higher than the deputy assistant secretary is allowed to participate. The secretary and his top staff have insisted on approving all travel—even the most minute details.”
Meanwhile, another source close to the White House said:
“Rex doesn’t like the fact that he’s supposed to be our nation’s top diplomat, and Jared and now Ivanka have stepped all over Rex Tillerson for a long time. So now, he’s not sending senior people from the State Department to support this issue. He’s not supporting Ivanka Trump.”
It has also been said that the curtailing of senior officials who may have potentially qualified to attend the Summit has nothing to do with the budget, but everything to do with the fact that it’s Ivanka Trump heading the delegation.
Tillerson’s message to the White House can’t get any clearer than that.
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