Ivanka Trump

She's a policy adviser bearing sensitive new details on sanctions to the South Koreans. She's a loyal family member who won't entertain questions about her father's purported infidelities. And she's a US figurehead bearing goodwill at an international sporting event.

But inside the White House, Ivanka Trump's unique stature -- along with that of her husband, Jared Kushner -- is causing tension. Some of their colleagues chafe at the pair's favorable standing, and the boss, chief of staff John Kelly, has worked to instill a military-style hierarchy to the West Wing.
Just as Kushner's struggles to obtain a permanent security clearance have highlighted his unusual position in the administration, Ivanka Trump's visit this week to South Korea -- her highest-profile solo trip yet -- underscored the unavoidable conflict she juggles. Not since she temporarily filled her father's seat at the G20 summit last year in Germany -- stirring external criticism -- has she taken such a high-profile assignment.
The decision to send her to South Korea did not sit well with some senior officials in the West Wing, two people familiar with the situation told CNN. The nuclear threat from North Korea and the tensions already boiling across the Korean Peninsula made any US delegation far more than ceremonial.
Kelly was not initially enthusiastic about her South Korea trip, a person close to President Donald Trump said, largely because the visit to the Korean Peninsula was far more than a typical Olympic closing ceremony.

Meanwhile, Kelly has grown increasingly frustrated with Ivanka Trump since he entered the West Wing last July, people familiar with the situation say. He often feels that she tries to have it both ways, acting as a senior adviser to the president when it suits her and then as his daughter when it doesn't. Kelly has remarked privately that Ivanka is just "playing government," one source said, and has largely brushed aside her agenda, once disregarding her child tax credit as "a pet project."
Another source familiar with the President's thinking says Ivanka's influence on his decision making has been exaggerated. He generally doesn't heed her advice when it comes to serious policy debates, as he didn't when he made the decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord. But she is looked at in the West Wing as one of few people who can soothe the President when he is indignant or angry.