Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Tom Carper (not pictured) have requested that more information be provided by mid-April. | AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File Warren, Carper petition Ethics Office for information on Ivanka Trump’s White House role

Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Tom Carper are requesting information from the Office of Government Ethics about Ivanka Trump’s compliance with federal ethics rules amid reports that the president’s elder daughter is expanding her unofficial role in the administration.

Warren (D-Mass.) and Carper (D-Del.) sent a letter to director Walter Shaub on Wednesday asking whether the White House has requested or received guidance from the office about Ivanka Trump’s role in the White House and the rules about disclosures, divestments and recusals that could be required of her amid her growing White House role.


Ivanka Trump, who has previously said she would have no formal role in the administration, is expanding her unofficial White House role, POLITICO reported last week. Trump’s daughter, who remains owner of a retail clothing brand bearing her name, has been given her own office in the West Wing and has applied for a security clearance to accommodate her expanding administration role. She also regularly attends meetings with political figures, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Ivanka Trump has said she would voluntarily follow ethics rules, and she and her husband, Jared Kushner, have sold millions of dollars in assets to comply with federal ethics rules. (Kushner is serving in an official White House administration role as a senior adviser.)

But her expanding role, which is unprecedented, has raised many questions about which ethics rules apply and how they could be enforced.

“Ms. Trump’s increasing, albeit unspecified, White House role, her potential conflicts of interest, and her commitment to voluntarily comply with relevant ethics and conflict of interest laws have resulted in substantial confusion,” the letter reads.

Trump’s elder daughter was previously embroiled in an ethics controversy after senior adviser to the president Kellyanne Conway told Fox News viewers to purchase items from Ivanka Trump’s clothing line. The ethics office subsequently said Conway committed a “clear violation” of ethics rules, and Shaub recommended that the White House investigate the remarks.

Warren and Carper have requested that more information be provided by mid-April.