Ivanka Trump will not be accompanied by any senior State Department officials when she visits India because Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reportedly does not wish to “bolster” the image of the President’s eldest daughter on the world change.
Ms Trump, 36, is due to travel to India next week to attend the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in the southern city of Hyderabad. The theme of this year’s event is “Women First, Prosperity for All”.
But while the high-profile annual event was previously attended by former Secretary of State John Kerry and Barack Obama, the State Department is not sending any senior officials to accompany Ms Trump.
CNN said this was because Mr Tillerson did not want to bolster Ms Trump’s position on the global stage. In recent months, both Ms Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, have taken a front seat in several international settings where Mr Tillerson believes, that as the US’s top diplomat, he should represent the country
“They won’t send someone senior because they don’t want to bolster Ivanka. It’s now another rift between the White House and State at a time when Rex Tillerson doesn’t need any more problems with the President,” a senior State Department official told the network.
“Rex doesn't like the fact that he’s supposed to be our nation’s top diplomat, and Jared and now Ivanka have stepped all over Rex Tillerson for a long time. So now, he’s not sending senior people from the State Department to support this issue. He’s not supporting Ivanka Trump.”
Mr Tillerson, a former top executive with Exxon Mobil, has had a controversial time since he became Secretary of State, paring down the department, failing to fill scores of senior posts and watching the departure of many senior career diplomats.
He has also had a difficult relationship with Mr Trump.
Earlier this summer, Mr Tillerson was forced to hold a press briefing to deny reports she had been planning to resign and had only stayed in his position after the intervention of Vice President Mike Pence.
“I have never considered leaving this post,” he said. He declined, however, to deny reports that he referred to Mr Trump as a “f***ing moron”. He said: “I’m not going to deal with petty stuff like that.”
At around the same time, Ms Trump startled international observers when she sat in for her father at several sessions with world leaders at the G20 summit in Hamburg. She was invited to visit India by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Meanwhile, Mr Kushner, who also has an office in the West Wing, has been handed a vast portfolio that includes improving US-China relations and securing a peace deal in the Middle East.
Neither the State Department of White House immediately responded to inquiries.
However, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told CNN: “The Department is committed to supporting women’s economic empowerment and entrepreneurship, and the summit is a prime opportunity to showcase the importance of these themes.”
The summit in Hyderabad faces controversy for another reason: it was to be attended by Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone, but she pulled out amid growing protests over her participation in the film Padmavati.
The film, set in the 14th century, depicts the life of queen Padmini. It has been criticised by right-wing groups that it misrepresents history by showing a love scene between the queen and a Muslim invader, which the director has denied.
A member of Mr Modi’s ruling, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Suraj Pal Amu, offered a bounty of $1.5m for anyone who beheaded Ms Padukone.
