Backlash Grows Over Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner's Plan to Develop One of the Mediterranean's Last Untouched Islands

Ivanka Trumpand her husband, Jared Kushner, are facing a backlash over recent plans to turn a remote Albanian island into a luxury resort.

President Donald Trump's daughter and his son-in-law (via Kushner's investment firm) are in hot water over the project. Trump (Ivanka, that is) discussed the development in the Adriatic Sea during an interview with David Senra on the "Founders Podcast," revealing, "I'm working on an incredible project with my husband in the Mediterranean. It's massive in scale."

She continued, "We were on a friend's boat and we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that's how we found it. We swam to the island. We went on a hike, barefoot all the way up to the top and we were just captivated and it stayed with us ever since."

Ivanka explained, "And over the course of many years, we developed the opportunity to help realize its potential and transform it, but with a lot of restraint and care because the land is so beautiful that really the architecture has to be fully integrated into it, almost rise from it."

The First daughter added, "You know, it's not even a business for me despite the scale of it. Not only the island, but we have five miles of beachfront directly across from the island. This beautiful peninsula with a lagoon on one side, the ocean on the other, beautiful white sand beaches."

Trump also shared, "For me, this feels more like a challenge than anything else. The culmination of all of my experience in real estate, all of my travel, a lot of reflection on how I want to live, how I think people increasingly are wanting to live and trying to really build something that's a tangible manifestation of that. That requires a lot of vision."

While Trump and Kushner have a vision for the land, the people of the region aren't as sure. Protests in Albania's capital, Tirana, erupted after plans for the resort got out.

Dubbed the ‘flamingo revolution,' protestors held flamingo-shaped cut-outs in reference to the birds, whose breeding ground will disappear when the development takes over. But flamingoes aren't the only wildlife at risk from the proposed 10,000-room mega-hotel. The region is home to over 200 species of birds, nesting sea turtles, and Mediterranean monk seals.

Environmental activist Joni Vorpsi said, in an interview with Euronews, "We are protesting against the intervention that has been carried out in Zvernec. The machinery should be removed, nature should be left free, and the area should be restored to its previous condition."

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama recently told CNN International that much of the recent backlash is fake news and noted, "There is not such a thing as the family of the American president taking over protected areas, where flamingoes will be killed by them."

He continued, "The challenge is not to pour concrete over the heads of flamingoes. The challenge is to prove that development and nature can not only coexist, but that nature and development need each other."

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This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 10:02 PM.