Her Turn: Ivanka Trump Business Deal the Subject of FBI Counterintelligence Investigation

Guys, it’s only Thursday.

I guess the family that falls under a federal investigation together stays together, or something.

It’s Ivanka’s turn in the spotlight, and you have to wonder how Daddy’s special girl is going to weather this particular trial.

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The FBI are currently checking into a Trump business deal in Vancouver, regarding the Trump International Hotel and Tower. It opened in February 2017 and features the Ivanka Trump spa. The concern is whether anything involved in this deal makes Ivanka vulnerable to manipulation by foreign governments.

She’s currently trying to gain her full security clearance, as adviser to her dad, but since her husband has been knocked down, there’s a question as to if that will have an effect on her efforts.

Reports CNN:

The Trump Organization does not own the building. Instead, like other Trump projects, it receives licensing and marketing fees from the developer, Joo Kim Tiah. A scion of one of Malaysia’s wealthiest families, Tiah runs his family’s Canada-based development company Holborn Group. President Trump’s June financial disclosure form said the Trump Organization made more than $5 million in royalties and $21,500 in management fees from the Vancouver property.

The $360 million project, which features 147 guest rooms and 217 luxury residences, quickly became a magnet for foreign buyers.

In the case of Vancouver, it’s not clear why investigators are examining this particular deal. The timing of the deal — as one of the few Trump-branded properties to open since Trump took office — could be of interest. The flow of foreign money, either from the developer or international condo buyers, could also be sparking scrutiny.

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The chief legal officer for the Trump Organization insists that everything with the property is consistent with how the company has done business, as far as licensing out the Trump name to projects.

But, again, it’s the foreign buyers who are being drawn to the property. A recent buyer in the project has links to the Chinese government.

Ivanka Trump is said to have worked with the developer of the property, Tiah, closely, in making the deal.

“One of the senior vice-presidents pulled me aside and said: ‘Joo Kim, it’s really important in your presentation that you connect with Ivanka. In other words: no one else is in the room, you have to understand that,” Tiah recalled at the October 2015 launch of a “Trump Luxe” VIP service for condo residents. “In that meeting, it was clearly just me and Ivanka talking about the project,” he recalled.

After an agreement was reached, Ivanka Trump recalled at the same event that she worked closely with Tiah: “We were working on a lot on the design elements and really forming the vision.”

“Ivanka and myself approved everything, everything in this project,” Tiah added.

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And this may just be something very routine, considering the changes that have been made in the White House, regarding security clearances.

Still, many have mused that with all that’s going on, and everyone that has been caught in special counsel Robert Mueller’s net, it just seems “odd” that Ivanka Trump hasn’t found herself in front of him, yet.

Depending on what might come up about this deal, it’s possible that the spotlight on Ivanka may get uncomfortably bright, soon enough.

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