Argentine leader: Ivanka joined call with Trump

Argentine President Mauricio Macri says he spoke with President-elect Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka during his recent phone call to America’s new leader.
“In the call, I also talked with his daughter,” Macri told The Asashi Shimbun in an interview published Monday. “I have known her since her infant days.”
{mosads}Questions have swirled about how the president-elect will handle his business empire as he takes office. He’s said his children will run things in a “blind trust,” but because they are also serving on his transition team it’s unclear how that separation would work.
Ivanka Trump was also photographed alongside her father during a meeting between the president-elect and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week.
But Kellyanne Conway, Donald Trump’s former presidential campaign manager, defended the president-elect’s business practices on Monday, saying that she’s “very confident” he hasn’t done anything illegal during the presidential transition process.
Macri, who has known Trump for years, added the Republican will bring strong-willed leadership to the White House.
“He is a person who is bold and aggressive and pushes through his opinions. Trump has his opinions and will try to push them.
“Trump won the election while making many people his enemy. That shows his capabilities and insights are excellent.”
“We promised to establish the best bilateral relations ever,” Macri added. “I hope that our good relations with the United States, seen under U.S. President Barack Obama, will continue and expand further under Trump.”
Macri and Trump first met through the former’s father, Francisco, who sold a defunct real estate development project to Trump in the 1980s.
Trump’s extensive business background has raised concerns about conflicts of interest between his future White House and his private enterprises.
Reports emerged earlier Monday, for example, that Trump used a congratulatory call from Macri to seek the Argentine president’s help on a stalled building project in Buenos Aires.
Separate media articles indicate that an Argentine development firm recently announced plans to build a massive office building in Buenos Aires bearing Trump’s name.
The $100 million project would purportedly create a 35-floor office building, with construction beginning in June 2017, assuming government approval.
Macri’s spokesman, who sat in on the call between both world leaders, said Monday they did not discuss the building.
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