US State Dept. Not To Send High-level Team To India With Ivanka Trump: CNN

US President Donald Trump's eldest daughter and senior adviser, Ivanka, will not be accompanied by any high-level State Department officials when she travels to India next week for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad, according to a report carried by CNN

NEW YORK, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Nov, 2017 ) :US President Donald Trump's eldest daughter and senior adviser, Ivanka, will not be accompanied by any high-level State Department officials when she travels to India next week for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad, according to a report carried by CNN.

The report said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has declined to send a senior delegation to support Ivanka Trump during the high-profile annual event, which had been attended by former Secretary of State John Kerry and even former President Barack Obama multiple times.

Tillerson's decision not to send anyone from his senior team on the trip is reportedly rooted in a desire not to "bolster" the president's daughter on the world stage and comes amid reported tensions between the Secretary of State and the White House.

"They [Tillerson and his staff] won't send someone senior because they don't want to bolster Ivanka," one senior State Department official was quoted as saying by CNN.

"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." The official said that no one higher ranking than the deputy assistant secretary will be allowed to participate in the summit.

Ivanka Trump was invited to attend the summit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this year. This year's gathering will focus on supporting women entrepreneurs. Acting assistant secretary for the central Asia region Alice Wells was originally slated to go on the trip.

Her attendance, however, has been called off by Tillerson's team, according to CNN. The summit was started during for president Obama's tenure in the White House, and CNN noted that a change in the State Department's approach to the event would be expected. Still, the move to not send a high-ranking State Department delegation is seen as a snub by some in White House, CNN said.