Trump leans on extended family for key White House roles

President-elect Trump’s extended family will fill his inner circle during his second term while his immediate family members step back from formal roles, a change in dynamics from his first administration.

Trump gave the fathers-in-law of two of his daughters an ambassadorship and an advisor role, and named his son’s ex-girlfriend to another ambassadorship.  Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., will likely continue their public messaging for their father while his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, has the backing from the president-elect to grow her political career.

But, in a glaring difference from his first term, Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner aren’t expected to take on formal titles, despite previously serving as senior advisers for Trump’s first four years.

Some political observers say keeping the family close in politics could prove to be a double-edge sword.

“The family members he’s appointing are extremely loyal, so that sort of makes sense from the perspective of how Donald Trump does things,” said Peter Loge, a professor of politics at George Washington University and a senior advisor with the FDA during the Obama administration. “But I’m not sure it’s the best way to run a country.”

Still, several of Trump’s extended family are expected to pepper the administration in several forms.

They include Charles Kushner, Ivanka’s father-in-law, who was picked to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to France and Massad Boulos, the father-in-law to Trump’s daughter Tiffany, who was named senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs. 

Kimberly Guilfoyle, who previously was in a relationship with Donald Trump Jr. before the two recently broke up, was named ambassador to Greece in the president-elect’s second term.

“I think it’s what to expect here—personal relationships, loyalty defined by family, connectivity, matter a lot to him, and so it's not surprising that whether it's Kushner or Kimberly Guilfoyle… I think the consistent thing here is that the president is really loyal to people who are loyal to him,” a Republican lobbyist said.

A former Trump campaign official noted that “Trump has always been about loyalty and trust to him. Those married into the family, you can assume check those boxes.”

Melania Trump’s role as first lady may also look different than the first term after she was all but absent from the campaign trail during the 2024 race, only making notable public appearances during the Republican National Convention and on Election Day.

And their son, Barron Trump, won’t be living at the White House with his father in Washington, D.C., because he is in college at New York University. But unlike his mother, Baron made his mark on the 2024 campaign when he reportedly helped as the voice of a younger generation to advocate for his father to join popular podcasts. 

GOP strategist Brian Seitchik said it shouldn’t come as a surprise that “there will be a heavy family involvement” in the next administration after Trump kept relatives in the inner circles during his first term. 

“If you look at Trump's business life and his political life, he has always leaned on family for counsel. So this should be no different,” Seitchik said. 

Another Republican strategist argued that picking family members doesn’t mean the president-elect isn’t going with “some of the best and the brightest.”

“I think sometimes the hubbub is more because it's Donald Trump,” the strategist said of criticism about Trump’s picks.  

But Loge argued that even though some of the family members Trump is elevating may have the experience or expertise to take on top roles, “the appearance of impropriety also matters.” 

Trump’s decisions to work his family into his political machine notably sparked accusations of nepotism during his first term. 

“If you're putting your family members into senior positions, no matter how qualified, the public's gonna ask, ‘Hey, did they get the job because they're good, or because they’re related to the boss?’ And it’s bad for public trust in public institutions,” Loge said. 

Trump isn’t the first president to appoint family members to top roles in their administrations. Former President Kennedy, for one, appointed his brother, Robert Kennedy, as U.S. attorney general in the ‘60s – and his brother-in-law, R. Sargent Shriver, to lead the Peace Corps. 

A few years later, Congress passed an anti-nepotism law. 

“Nepotism has been part of American politics from the beginning. Congress is full of people whose parents or uncles or other relatives either were elected officials or certain senior staff positions,” Loge said, pointing to the Kennedy family. But with Trump’s second term, “the brakes appear to be off.” 

President Biden made a point at the start of his term to promise, in an interview alongside first lady Jill Biden, that no one in their family or extended family would be involved in any government undertaking or hold “an office in this place.”

But, the first lady has been a part of many of the big decisions the president has made and was especially in the spotlight when he refused to drop out of the 2024 race before ultimately announcing he would. 

The president’s son, Hunter Biden who often joined his father on unofficial travel on Air Force One, has also been a target of Republican attacks during the administration over his legal issues. Biden recently pardoned him following a weekend spent with family in Nantucket after insisting for months that he wouldn’t, in a move that will define Biden’s presidency.

“You look at other families: have they been involved in making policy decisions, or making decisions about people who will set policy? And the answer is generally no,” said Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf. “Have we ever seen anything like this? The answer is not likely, not at least in the last 50, 60 years.” 

Trump’s two adult sons, Eric and Donald Jr., are expected to play an outsized role in touting their father, including on Fox News and through statements online.  

Ivanka Trump, the president-elect’s oldest daughter, served as executive vice president of the Trump Organization before joining her father’s first administration as a senior adviser alongside her husband. They both waived government salaries. 

She’s since taken a step back from politics, was notably absent on the 2024 campaign trail, and isn’t expected to join a second Trump term. 

Ivanka, as well as Trump’s youngest daughter Tiffany, showed up in New York this week when the president-elect rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange after he was named Time’s “Person of the Year.” They also were both with him on election night.

Jared Kushner is still seen as a key voice for Trump on the Middle East, but is reportedly unlikely to take a formal role. 

A White House job is a tough one, Loge said, and the last Trump administration was no stranger to chaos. 

“I can absolutely see someone who served in the first administration saying, we were proud to serve, but we’re gonna take a back seat this time,” Loge said.