WASHINGTON • Ms Ivanka Trump, the elder daughter of US President Donald Trump, is becoming an official government employee, joining her husband in serving as an unpaid adviser to her father in the White House.

Ms Trump, 35, will be an assistant to the President, the White House announced on Wednesday. Her husband Jared Kushner, 36, has the title of senior adviser.

While relying on family members for advice is hardly unusual for a president, giving them a formal role has few precedents.

After questions were raised about whether Mr Kushner's appointment violated federal anti-nepotism laws, the Justice Department wrote a memo in January concluding that the rules did not apply to the White House.

Ms Trump said last week that she planned to serve as an informal adviser to her father. She already has an office in the West Wing - upstairs from her husband's. She is also in the process of receiving government-issued security clearance and communications devices.

Ethics experts said such a move would allow her to avoid financial disclosure rules.

Ms Trump, who was part of her father's business empire and ran an eponymous fashion line, said such qualms were unfounded.

"I have heard the concerns some have with my advising the President in my personal capacity while voluntarily complying with all ethics rules, and I will instead serve as an unpaid employee in the White House Office, subject to all of the same rules as other federal employees," she said in a statement on Wednesday.

Her lawyer Jamie Gorelick said "she will file the financial disclosure forms required of federal employees and be bound by the same ethics rules that she had planned to comply with voluntarily".

NYTIMES