Ivanka Trump Thinks It’s “Pretty Inappropriate” to Ask Her About Her Father’s Accusers

Ivanka, a key administration emissary to women, admits she doesn’t believe them.

Ivanka Trump has attempted to nurture a public image as a backer of women’s empowerment. But, in remarks released by NBC News on Monday morning, she categorically denied the accounts of the nearly two dozen women who have accused her father of sexual misconduct spanning several decades.

In an interview conducted over the weekend, NBC’s Peter Alexander asked Trump about the allegations. The first daughter’s reaction was frosty: “I think it’s a pretty inappropriate question to ask a daughter if she believes the accusers of her father when he’s affirmatively stated that there’s no truth to it,” she said in a new interview that aired in full Monday. “I don’t think that’s a question you would ask many other daughters.”

Trump, of course, is not just any other daughter: She currently enjoys the vague title of assistant to the president, holds an interim security clearance, and has been one of the most visible female boosters of her father’s presidential campaign and administration. The interview was recorded in South Korea, ahead of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics’ closing ceremony, where Trump was representing the United States.

“I believe my father, I know my father,” she continued. “So I think I have that right as a daughter to believe my father.”

Her remarks echo the White House’s repeated denials and defense of Trump based on little more than his own word, as allegations against the president resurfaced and gained fresh attention amid the recent #MeToo movement.

It’s not the first time the first daughter has bristled when questioned about her father’s record on women. In a Berlin appearance in March 2017, earlier in the administration, she was asked to square her empowerment message with her father’s public attitudes toward women.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate