Ivanka Trump says that her critics should be comforted by her position as Assistant to the President, serving under her father, President Donald Trump.
The First Daughter also explained why she hasn’t come down against this White House’s more controversial policies, which has led some to label her “complicit.”
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Sitting down with Gayle King on CBS This Morning, for her first televised interview since accepting the White House title, Trump said of the position, “What it means is that I’ll continue the advocacy work that I was doing in the private sector, advocating for the economic empowerment of women.
“I’m still my father’s daughter,” she added. “So 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 I feel strongly about.”
With that being said, the American public shouldn’t expect the Assistant to the President to voice her dissent publicly. Defending her decision not to speak out about issues such as climate change, marriage equality and women’s rights (to name a few), she urged people “not to conflate lack of public denouncement with silence. There are multiple ways to have your voice heard. In some cases, it’s through protest and it’s through going on the nightly news…. Other times it is quietly and directly and candidly.”
“This isn’t about promoting my viewpoints,” she argued. “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.”
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As for claims that she is “complicit” in some of the administration’s earliest controversies (which of course inspired a recent Saturday Night Live sketch), Trump said, “I don’t know what it means to be complicit.
“If being complicit is wanting to be a force for good and to make a positive impact, then I’m complicit,” she said. “I don’t know that [my] critics… if they found themselves in this very unique and unprecedented situation that I am now in, would do any differently than I’m doing.”
Among the other takeaways from CBS This Morning‘s Ivanka Trump Q&A:
* Regarding her previous declaration that she would not take a position in her father’s administration: “[That] was, I think five or six days following the election. I was processing [in] real time the new reality and what it would mean… I realized that having one foot in and one foot out wouldn’t work.”
* The First Daughter assured the American people that she is no longer involved in the day-to-day business of the Ivanka Trump brand, having named her brother-in-law and sister-in-law as “independent trustees” to run the company.
* As for whether she herself might consider a run for office in 2024? “No… Politics is a tough business.”
What did you think of Ivanka Trump’s sit-down with Gayle King? Watch video above and below.
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