Ivanka Trump responded to critics who said that she doesn’t publicly comment on her father’s policies.
In an interview with CBS This Morning, Ivanka said when she agrees with President Donald Trump, she offers her full support. When she doesn’t, she expresses her disagreements to him candidly.
“I would say not to conflate lack of public denouncement with silence. I think there are multiple ways to have your voice heard. I think in some ways it’s through protest and it’s going on the nightly news and talking about or denouncing every issue in which you disagree with. Other times it is quietly and directly and candidly. So, where I disagree with my father he knows it, and I express myself with total candor. Where I agree, I fully lean in and support the agenda and hope I can be an asset to him and make a positive impact,” said Ivanka.
“But I respect the fact that he always listens. It’s how he was in business. It’s how he is as president,” she said.
Ivanka has taken an unpaid advisory role to the president to quell ethics concerns.
“To me, this particular title was about giving critics the comfort that I’m holding myself to that highest ethical standard. But I’ll weigh in with my father on the issues that I feel strongly about,” she said.
Ivanka has focused on policies relating to women and workforce development.
Some have criticized her for avoiding public comment on other parts of her father’s agenda. This includes the travel ban, border wall, proposed budget cuts or rollback of environmental regulations.
For Ivanka, noise doesn’t equal advocacy.
“My father agrees with me on so many issues. And where he doesn’t, he knows where I stand,” she said.
“I think that for me this isn’t about promoting my viewpoints. I wasn’t elected by the American people to be president. My father is going to do a tremendous job. And I want to help him do that. But I don’t think that it will make me a more effective advocate to constantly articulate every issue publicly where I disagree,” she added.
Ivanka is a 35-year-old mother of three. She gave up her executive roles at the Trump Organization and her own lifestyle brand to assist her father in his presidency.
