Al Gore just had a 'very productive' talk with Trump on climate change

Former Vice President Al Gore met with President-elect Donald Trump and his daughter, Ivanka Trump, Monday to discuss climate change, despite the Manhattan mogul's previous claims that the issue was a hoax perpetuated by China.

Ivanka Trump is also planning a move from New York City to Washington, D.C., to serve as climate czar in her father's presidential administration, CNN reported.

It's unclear whether the president-elect's views on climate change have actually shifted, but Monday's lunchtime meeting at Trump Tower with the future first daughter and Gore, who has become perhaps the world's most notable climate activist, seems to suggest he is open to negotiations.

“I had a lengthy and very productive session with the president-elect,” Gore told reporters after the meeting, referring to their "extremely interesting conversation" as a "sincere search for areas of common ground," the Daily Caller reported.

Gore confirmed that he also met with Ivanka Trump, but noted the bulk of his time was spent with the president-elect.

The high-profile meeting came the same day CNN reported that Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, and their three children are planning a move to the nation's capital. According to Politico, she wants to make climate change her signature issue and use her platform as an international businesswoman to speak out.

In the process, Ivanka Trump could offer an olive branch to many moderates and liberals adverse to her father's impending presidency.

The reported move also creates an easier path to the White House for Kusher, who played an instrumental role in getting Trump elected. Kushner has long been rumored to be a potential close adviser for his father-in-law. Following Trump's Nov. 8 victory, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus confirmed those suspicions during an interview on NBC's "Today."

"I think Jared Kushner, obviously [Trump's] son-in-law is going to be very involved in decision-making," Priebus said in mid-November.

But the couple's potential involvement in key policy areas could present some complicated political issues and, possibly, legal hurdles. Trump has said he plans to hand his business empire over to his children, and Kushner runs a multi-billion-dollar business in his own right.

A number of experts on both sides of the political aisle have said the only way for Trump to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest when it comes to policy decisions and how they may affect his business' bottom line is to put all of his assets into a blind trust.

It is possible that Trump's two adult sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., could run the family business on their own while the president-elect and his daughter immerse themselves in crafting policy. The question then, however, would almost certainly still be about the discussions within the family as they relate to possible conflicts of interest.