WaPo: Trump Kids Worry That Family Business Will Take A Hit From WH Chaos

Donald Trump, right, sits with, from left, Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump during a ground breaking ceremony for the Trump International Hotel on the site of the Old Post Office, on Wednesday, July 23,... Donald Trump, right, sits with, from left, Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump during a ground breaking ceremony for the Trump International Hotel on the site of the Old Post Office, on Wednesday, July 23, 2014, in Washington. (AP Photo) MORE LESS
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President Donald Trump’s children are worried that reports on chaos inside the White House will hurt the family brand and have been pushing for changes, according to a Wednesday night Washington Post report.

Per the Post:

Trump’s three oldest children — Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric — and Kushner have been frustrated by the impression of chaos inside the White House and feel that their father has not always been served well by his senior staff, according to people with knowledge of their sentiments. The Trump heirs are interested in any changes that might help resuscitate the presidency and preserve the family’s name at a time when they are trying to expand the Trump Organization’s portfolio of hotels.

“The fundamental assessment is that if they want to win the White House in 2020, they’re not going to do it the way they did in 2016, because the family brand would not sustain the collateral damage,” said one well-connected Republican operative, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the president’s family. “It would be so protectionist, nationalist and backward-looking that they’d only be able to build in Oklahoma City or the Ozarks.”

Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, have been battling with White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, per the Washington Post. Bannon’s removal from the National Security Council’s Principals Committee has been followed by a flood of reports indicating that Bannon’s influence in the White House has decreased and that he’s been at odds with Kushner and other Trump aides.

Neither Trump nor his daughter, Ivanka Trump, who works as an unpaid adviser to the President, have divested from their interests in Trump brands.

The President declined to completely separate himself from his businesses after winning the election and instead passed the reins to his two oldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. Trump pledged that he would have no knowledge of the business while in office, but Eric Trump said last month in an interview that he planned to give his father at least quarterly updates on the business’ finances.

A lawyer for Ivanka Trump, who has an office in the White House, has acknowledged that the President’s daughter has not eliminated her conflicts of interest entirely by stepping down from her leadership role in both the family business and at her own clothing and accessories company. It was also revealed in financial disclosures late last month that Ivanka Trump still has a stake in the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Both the President and Ivanka Trump also are facing unfair competition lawsuits from small businesses who argue that their various Trump brands have had an unfair advantage over competitors since they entered the White House.

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