WASHINGTON _ Ivanka Trump and Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet L. Yellen had breakfast this summer as President Donald Trump considered whether to re-nominate Yellen for another term as the central bank chief.
Ivanka Trump and Yellen dined at the Fed from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. on July 17, according to Yellen's calendar, which the Fed releases to the public with about a one month lag.
A Fed spokeswoman declined to comment Monday on what was discussed at the breakfast or who requested it. A White House spokesman also did not provide details.
The Fed chair often meets with administration officials and members of Congress. But a sit-down with a member of the first family is highly unusual for the chief of the nation's independent central bank.
The breakfast came as Yellen's four-year term is set to expire in February. She has not said publicly if she is interested in a second term but Trump has said he is considering re-nominating her.
Ivanka Trump is an unpaid assistant to the president and a key adviser. She has advocated for women's issues, such as paid family leave and an expanded child tax credit.
Yellen, the first woman to lead the Fed, gave a speech in May at Brown University titled "So We All Can Succeed: 125 Years of Women's Participation in the Economy."
A few weeks later, Ivanka Trump tweeted a quote from the speech and a link to it.
Ivanka Trump and Yellen had breakfast in a room in the Fed's beaux arts Marriner S. Eccles Building where Yellen frequently dines with guests.
In July, she had breakfast there twice with Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. She also had lunch there in July with Gary Cohn, the White House's top economic adviser and a rival for the Fed chairmanship.
The president has sent mixed messages about his opinion of Yellen.
He sharply criticized her during the 2016 presidential campaign, accusing Yellen of keeping the benchmark rate "artificially low" to help Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
"I think she is very political and to a certain extent, I think she should be ashamed of herself," Trump told CNBC in a September interview.
A Trump campaign video included images of the Fed and Yellen, casting her has part of the "political establishment" that has "bled our country dry."
But in July, Trump said he was considering re-nominating Yellen and that she and Cohn were top candidates for the job.
"I like her. I like her demeanor. I think she's done a good job," Trump told the Wall Street Journal. "I'd like to see rates stay low. She's historically been a low-interest-rate person."
But Yellen might have hurt her chances of re-nomination by strongly defending tougher financial regulations during an August speech. Trump and many Republicans want to scale back many of the stricter rules put in place after the 2008 financial crisis, arguing they have stunted economic growth.
Cohn's chances also have taken a hit recently.
Citing unnamed sources, the Journal reported last week that Cohn is unlikely to be selected because of critical comments he made about Trump's response to the Charlottesville, Va., violence.
Cohn told the Financial Times in an interview last month that the Trump administration "can and must do better in consistently and unequivocally condemning" white supremacists, neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.
