Ivanka Trump briefed South Korea’s president on new North Korea sanctions her father imposed on Friday—despite reportedly lacking permanent security clearance typically required to access classified information.
The first daughter was informed of President Donald Trump’s sanctions targeting North Korea’s shipping and trading companies and vessels before meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, according to CNN.
“She has been part of the team. She had dinner with President Moon and had a private discussion in advance about this occurring, and this has been an interagency process,” Mnuchin said.
But when asked if she had the appropriate security clearance in order to carry out such a task, Mnuchin dodged the core of the question. “She has the appropriate access to brief the president,” he said.
Ivanka Trump, like her husband and fellow White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, reportedly only has an interim security clearance.
Two Democratic lawmakers in October demanded that both their temporary clearances be revoked for “brazen disregard for ethics and their apparent intention to skirt good governance rules,” among other alleged offenses.
.@IvankaTrump, a senior White House adviser, has blocked me on Twitter. Can you help forward our letter to her? Thank you. twitter.com/tedlieu/status…
The eldest daughter of the president is currently in South Korea to attend the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics. During a briefing with Moon before Friday’s dinner, Trump said the purpose of her visit was to “reaffirm our commitment to our maximum pressure campaign to ensure that the Korean Peninsula is denuclearized.”
A North Korean delegation, led by Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the central committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, will also attend Sunday’s closing ceremony.
Moon has expressed hope for opening dialogue between his country and North Korea, which remain technically at war.
During a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference Friday, President Trump said the U.S. implemented against North Korea “the heaviest sanctions ever imposed by our country before.”
“And frankly, hopefully something positive can happen,’ the president said. “We will see, but hopefully something positive can happen.”
The Department of Treasury later revealed that sanctions were placed on 27 North Korean trading and shipping companies, 28 vessels and one individual.
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