How Ivanka Trump Almost Lost Her Job As A White House Advisor

During the 2016 presidential race, Ivanka Trump was out on the campaign trail for her father, Donald Trump. She helped soften his image and was an integral part of his campaign. Then when Donald was elected, Ivanka continued working for her father. Her official White House position was announced in early 2017 after concerns were raised about the ethical issues of an unofficial position, per CNN. ​​"I have heard the concerns some have with my advising the President in my personal capacity," Ivanka said at the time, "and I will instead serve as an unpaid employee [...] subject to all of the same rules as other federal employees." Ivanka's title became "assistant to the president," and she joined her husband Jared Kushner, a "senior adviser," who had been a part of the Trump administration since the beginning.

You might think that Ivanka's job in the White House would be safe considering the strength of Ivanka and Donald's relationship, but apparently, her father once thought about booting her from her unpaid position. In Maggie Haberman's New York Times bestselling book "Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America," she outlines how Donald almost fired his daughter and son-in-law from the White House via Twitter.

In "Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America," New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman said that Donald Trump often told his White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire both Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, per The Washington Post. The two never did, and Donald reportedly even went so far as to get ready to tweet that "his daughter and son-in-law were leaving the White House." But Kelly talked him down and told Donald that if he was going to let go of Ivanka and Kushner, he should talk to them first. "Trump agreed, then never followed up with the conversation," Haberman wrote. And he never tweeted about it either, so their jobs were safe through the end of Trump's presidency. Who knows if they knew how close they were to getting let go?

Firing via tweet without talking to the person beforehand was a bit of a habit for Donald. He fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Twitter in 2018. In 2019, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen found out she was let go the same way. Donald let go of Christopher Krebs, a top official with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, with a tweet after Krebs' agency released a statement that the 2020 election was "the most secure in American history" via NPR. And another post-2020 election Twitter firing included Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

Ivanka Trump hasn't publicly responded to any claims about a potential firing from her father. And there isn't any possible chance of getting let go from the White House via Twitter, for a couple of reasons. Donald Trump's last tweet was in January 2021; he's since moved to his own social media network Truth Social, so no more Twitter firings.

And even if Donald does become the Republican nominee for president in the 2024 election and he wins, Ivanka won't be supporting him in the same way that she did in 2016 and 2020. Ivanka has been distancing herself from her dad since he left the White House, and she told Fox News she'd be focusing on her family. "While I will always love and support my father," Ivanka said, "going forward, I will do so outside the political arena." Jared Kushner will also not be working for Donald on the 2024 campaign. As for Donald's take on his daughter not joining him on the campaign trail, he posted to Truth Social that he "never asked Jared or Ivanka to be part of the 2024 Campaign for President and, in fact, specifically asked them not to do it — too mean and nasty with the Fake & Corrupt News and having to deal with some absolutely horrendous SleazeBags in the world of politics, and beyond."