Ivanka Trump booed at W20 summit after calling father a ‘champion’ for women
Ivanka Trump heard boos and hisses at the W20 conference in Berlin on Tuesday after she described President Trump as a “champion” for women and families.
“I’m very proud of my father’s advocacy,” the first daughter said during a panel discussion on women’s economic empowerment, drawing audible scoffs from the audience. “He’s been a tremendous champion of supporting families and enabling them to thrive.”
She was asked whether he could be considered a champion of women given his history of making sexist and misogynistic comments.
“I’ve certainly heard the criticism from the media, and that’s been perpetuated,” she said. “But I know from personal experience. And I think the thousands of women who have worked with and for my father for decades when he was in the private sector are a testament to his belief and solid conviction in the potential of women and their ability to do the job.”
“As a daughter, I can speak on a very personal level, knowing that he encouraged me and enabled me to thrive,” she continued. “I grew up in a house where there was no barriers to what I could accomplish beyond my own perseverance and my own tenacity.”
Trump, who was recently installed as an unpaid White House adviser, was asked to describe her role. She has long been one of her father’s closest confidants, and she helped craft maternity-leave policy during the campaign.
“The Germans are not that familiar with the concept of a first daughter,” the moderator asked. “What is your role? Who are you representing: your father as the president of the United States, the American people or your business?”
Trump, who relinquished running her fashion brand before taking an official West Wing role, said it is “certainly not the latter.”
“I am rather unfamiliar with this role as well,” she said. “It is quite new to me. It has been just under 100 days, but it has been a remarkable and incredible journey.”
Trump said she was “humbled” by the invitation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to participate in the discussion, and hoped to bring “the knowledge and advice” gleaned from the event “back to both my father and the president.”
As for the booing and hissing, the first daughter brushed it off.
“Politics is politics, as I’m learning,” Ivanka Trump told reporters after the event. “I’m used to it. It’s fine.”
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