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.

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

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