Ivanka Trump's Azerbaijan Business Interests: Ethical?

Ivanka Trump, the daughter of former US President Donald Trump, has been accused of attempting to take what is ours by Albanian locals. Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, are looking to invest almost $1 billion in the country. The couple, who both served as senior advisors to the former president, are seeking exclusive development rights on the small island of Sazan, which was used as a submarine base by Italy during World War II. The project has sparked controversy, with critics arguing that it is a case of nepotism and that the pair are only involved due to their relationship with the former president.

Ivanka Trump's involvement in the Trump Organization's Baku hotel deal

Ivanka Trump was heavily involved in the Trump Organization's Baku hotel deal. Ivanka was the Executive Vice President of Development & Acquisitions of The Trump Organization, and was responsible for the domestic and global expansion of the company's real estate interests. She oversaw the overall development of the Baku hotel project, ensuring that the building was up to Trump standards. Ivanka toured the property in October 2014, and her father, Donald Trump, publicly announced the project the following month. Ivanka and The Trump Organization were involved in approving designs and made monthly visits to the site to approve each new work order.

The Baku hotel deal was initially set up to be extremely lucrative for the Trumps. They would receive large upfront payments, have a significant say in the design of the hotel, and collect royalties and management fees. The Trump Organization would manage the hotel, while the Mammadov family, a prominent Azeri family, would fund the construction and own the project.

The project, however, faced several delays and controversies. Construction was delayed in 2015, and in March 2016, The Trump Organization stated that the project was "held in abeyance" due to the developer falling behind on construction milestones. After Donald Trump was elected as U.S. President, The Trump Organization ended its affiliation with the unopened project in November 2016. The building never opened and was last seen catching fire in 2018.

Ivanka's trip to Baku to visit the construction site

Ivanka Trump, the daughter of former US President Donald Trump, visited Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2014 to visit the construction site of the Trump International Hotel & Tower Baku. The hotel was a collaboration between the Trump Organization and Azerbaijani developers, with the Trump Organization signing off on the contract to turn the building into a luxury hotel.

Ivanka Trump's visit to the construction site was well-documented on her Instagram, where she posted photos and videos of her trip. She was actively involved in the project, ensuring that the hotel met Trump standards.

The Trump International Hotel & Tower Baku was a sleek 5-star hotel in the shape of a ship's sail, and its construction began in 2008. However, despite appearing nearly complete, the hotel never opened to the public. In late 2016, the Trump Organization cancelled the construction of the nearly-finished building to avoid potential conflicts of interest as her father assumed the presidency.

The deal with Azerbaijani developers had caused some controversy due to alleged ties with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Trump Organization had partnered with the powerful Mammadov family, who were known for exploiting political power to increase their personal wealth and had reported links with the IRGC. Despite these red flags, the Trump Organization maintained that their investigation into the Mammadov family "did not raise any red flags."

Ivanka's role as a senior advisor in her father's administration

Ivanka Trump, the second child of former US President Donald Trump, served as a senior advisor in her father's administration from 2017 to 2021. She was also the director of the Office of Economic Initiatives and Entrepreneurship.

Prior to her role as a senior advisor, Ivanka was an executive vice president of her family-owned Trump Organization and was a boardroom judge on her father's TV show, The Apprentice. In March 2017, she left the Trump Organization to become a senior adviser in her father's presidential administration, alongside her husband, Jared Kushner. Ivanka was part of the president's inner circle before becoming an official employee in his administration.

During the early months of her father's administration, some commentators compared Ivanka's role to that of Julie Nixon Eisenhower, daughter of President Richard Nixon. Ivanka defended her father and his administration against a myriad of allegations. Washington Post opinion columnist Alyssa Rosenberg wrote, "Both daughters served as important validators for their fathers."

In her role as a senior advisor, Ivanka travelled to the first W20 women's summit, where she spoke about women's rights. She also co-authored an op-ed published in the Financial Times on women's economic empowerment. In July 2017, Ivanka attended the G20 Summit in Germany, where she launched We-Fi, a billion-dollar World Bank initiative to advance women's entrepreneurship. In August 2017, Ivanka led a U.S. delegation to India in support of women's entrepreneurship. In September 2017, she delivered an anti-human trafficking speech at the United Nations General Assembly, calling it "the greatest human rights issue of our time".

Ivanka led the United States presidential delegation to the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games closing ceremony. She also attended the 2019 G20 Osaka summit, where the French government released a video of her inserting herself into a conversation with world leaders, leading to online parodies and memes. In June 2019, Ivanka participated in talks between her father and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inside the Korean peninsula's demilitarized zone. She described the experience as "surreal".

In 2019, Ivanka went on a worldwide tour to promote her "Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative", travelling to Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Argentina, Colombia, Paraguay, and Morocco. In 2021, a Government Accountability Office audit concluded that Ivanka's initiative spent $265 million a year of taxpayer money on 19 women's empowerment projects, but failed to effectively target the money towards these projects and did not measure the impact of the spending.

In January 2020, Ivanka organized a Human Trafficking Summit at the White House, where her father signed an executive order expanding his domestic policy office with a new position focused on combating human trafficking. In June 2020, Ivanka hosted an event at the White House to announce $35 million in grant funding to aid victims of human trafficking.

Ivanka was also credited with proposing the controversial photo opportunity of her father holding a bible in front of St. John's Church, which required violently clearing peaceful protesters. She walked with her father to the site and carried the bible in her purse.

Ivanka's role in her father's administration raised concerns about the violation of federal nepotism rules and the risk of disclosing classified information. In 2017, it was discovered that Ivanka had used a personal email account to send hundreds of emails to White House aides and cabinet officials, in probable violation of the Presidential Records Act.

Ivanka's involvement in her father's presidential campaign

Ivanka Trump has been a prominent figure in her father's political career, serving as a senior adviser to the president from March 2017 to January 2021. She was also the director of the Office of Economic Initiatives and Entrepreneurship, a role established and later eliminated during the Trump administration.

Ivanka played an active role in her father's 2016 presidential campaign, publicly endorsing his bid and making appearances in support of him. She introduced her father at the 2016 Republican National Convention, delivering a speech that portrayed him "in a warmer-than-usual light." She also filled in for her father on his television program, "The Apprentice," appearing as a boardroom judge and collaborating on projects.

However, Ivanka has chosen to step back from politics in the 2024 election cycle, announcing in November 2022 that she would not join her father's campaign. She cited a desire to prioritize her young children and family life, expressing a wish to shield them from the "dark world" of politics. Ivanka has kept a lower profile since the end of her father's presidency, moving with her family to Florida.

Despite her absence from the 2024 campaign, Ivanka was recently drawn back into the spotlight when she testified in her father's business fraud trial in New York. She sought to distance herself from her father's dealings, claiming a lack of recall on many aspects of the business.

Ivanka's career as a businesswoman

Ivanka Trump is an American businesswoman and entrepreneur. She is the daughter of former US President Donald Trump and his first wife, Ivana. Ivanka grew up in wealth, with her father being the scion of a real-estate empire and her mother a former model. She attended the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in economics.

After graduating, Ivanka worked at the real-estate company Forest City Ratner, where she was a project manager in the firm's retail development department. In 2005, she left to join the Trump Organization, her family's global real-estate company. She became an executive vice president, specialising in development and acquisition. Ivanka was involved in the 2013 lease deal that allowed the organisation to convert the Old Post Office building in Washington, D.C., into a mixed-use property that included a hotel.

In addition to her work at the Trump Organization, Ivanka was involved in other ventures. She appeared on her father's reality TV show, 'The Apprentice', from 2006 to 2015, and also served as a boardroom judge on the show. In 2007, she debuted a self-titled line of jewellery, shoes, and clothing. Ivanka also wrote two self-help books: 'The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life' (2009) and 'Women Who Work: Rewriting the Rules for Success' (2017).

In 2015, Ivanka's father announced his presidential campaign. She was active in his campaign and, according to reports, he considered naming her as his running mate. After Donald Trump won the election, she left the Trump Organization to work in the White House as an adviser to the president. She also became the director of the Office of Economic Initiatives and Entrepreneurship. In this role, she focused on issues such as women's economic empowerment and working families.

In 2018, amid ethics concerns, Ivanka closed down her fashion line. In 2022, she testified before a congressional committee investigating the Capitol attack, stating that she accepted there was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election—a statement that drew a rebuke from her father. Later that year, she testified in a New York Attorney General investigation into the Trump Organization's business practices.

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