The government shutdown is now official and Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter of the president, and Jared Kushner, her husband, have announced that they will stay behind at the White House to give aid in the crisis which affects federal government employees.
The New York Times confirms that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner had planned to head down to Palm Beach, Florida, to spend a few weeks at Mar-a-Lago, the Trump family resort, but they’ve decided to remain behind to help with the negotiations between the president and Congress in reference to the southern border wall, which is a deal-breaker for Trump.
All parties have now called it a night, but as the deadline approached, Vice President Mike Pence and Kushner could be seen in the huddle, trying to advance the ball down the field.
Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, says that they won’t bring anything to a vote without assurances that Donald Trump would support it after coming out of a meeting that involved senior aide Jared Kushner.
“We’ve made some serious overtures. We’re not done.”
Many in Congress are obviously gun shy considering that the president did an about-face the last time they had a promise delivered by Pence.
This is not the first time that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have put themselves in the middle of a high profile situation that traditionally would not include a president’s family members. Earlier this month, Trump and Kushner flew to Argentina to attend the G20 Summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina alongside Donald Trump and his wife, Melania Trump.
But Ivanka Trump’s entrance was not without controversy because she wore an outfit by designer Gabriela Hearst, who very publicly refused to dress her stepmother, Melania Trump, suggesting that if the first lady wanted to wear one of her outfits, she should buy one in the stores.
A White House reporter pointed out on Twitter that it was rather shady of Ivanka Trump to wear a Gabriela Hearst jumpsuit to such an international event.
“@IvankaTrump is wearing this @gabrielahearst suit. Hearst is a vocal critic of Trump administration policies. Her 2017 collection was actually inspired by female Democrat Senators, including @KamalaHarris @SenDuckworth.”
Both Donald Trump and wife Melania have commented on the various designers who have refused to dress the first lady based on their dislike of Trump administration policies by saying they didn’t care for the outfits, but W Magazine still called this a faux pas on the part of Ivanka.
