Donald Trump has said that he will step away from his businesses by the time he takes office and hand over the reins to his two oldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, but the President-elect’s children are still very much involved in efforts to fill out Trump’s cabinet.
Trump’s three oldest children, Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, all sit on the transition team’s executive committee. His children have taken part in the process to select cabinet nominees and have sat in on meetings with foreign leaders.
Donald Trump Jr. was involved in the process to select his father’s nominee to lead the Interior department, Politico reported Wednesday morning, citing unnamed “sources familiar with the process.” He made phone calls to candidates and sat in on interviews with potential nominees, according to the report.
Eric Trump reportedly took part in the process to select his father’s nominee for secretary of state. The Washington Post reported that he sat in on the President-elect’s first meeting with Mitt Romney about potentially leading the State Department at the Trump golf club in New Jersey, alongside Jared Kushner and a couple of other advisers.
When asked during a call with reporters on Wednesday about the involvement of Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. in the cabinet selection process and any conflict of interest that may create, transition spokesman Jason Miller said that their involvement should be expected, as they are part of the transition team.
“The transition team has been very transparent and the fact that Donald Trump Jr. is on the transition team, that he’s someone who is helping us on this government put things together, so that’s—we’ve announced that right from the beginning,” Miller said. “And so it only makes sense that the transition team member was active in the process.”
For her part, Ivanka Trump has been part of a couple of conversations between her father and foreign leaders. She and Kushner, her husband, sat in on a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. She also reportedly spoke over the phone with Argentine President Mauricio Macri on the same call as her father, and Eric Trump has reportedly spoken with that country’s foreign minister.
Ivanka Trump and her husband were influential in the President-elect’s decision to name Reince Priebus his chief of staff, according to the New York Times. She also met with Al Gore earlier this month, after which her father met with the former vice president as well.
Before the election, Donald Trump Jr. embarked on a trip to Paris to discuss foreign affairs. He met with diplomats and business leaders at an October think tank event in Paris to discuss how the U.S. could work more closely with Russia to end the conflict in Syria, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Esme Cribb contributed reporting.
