Ivanka Trump cuts Cosmopolitan interview short: ‘I think that you have a lot of negativity in these questions’
Ivanka Trump abruptly ended an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine about Donald Trump’s new maternity-leave policy on Wednesday after fielding questions she felt were “unfair” about her father’s record with women.
According to a transcript published by the magazine, Ivanka bristled at Cosmopolitan senior writer Prachi Gupta’s line of questioning.
“In 2004, Donald Trump said that pregnancy is an inconvenient thing for a business,” Gupta said. “It’s surprising to see this policy from him today. Can you talk a little about those comments, and perhaps what has changed?”
“So I think that you have a lot of negativity in these questions,” Ivanka replied. “So I don’t know how useful it is to spend too much time with you on this, if you’re going to make a comment like that.”
The phone interview was conducted hours after her father introduced the plan, which Ivanka helped craft, at a rally in Pennsylvania. The 34-year-old Trump Organization executive, top Trump campaign adviser and mother of three also penned an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal detailing how the proposal would “empower working and stay-at-home mothers,” a point Ivanka tried to highlight.
“My father obviously has a track record of decades of employing women at every level of his company, and supporting women, and supporting them in their professional capacity, and enabling them to thrive outside of the office and within,” she said in the Cosmo interview. “To imply otherwise is an unfair characterization of his track record and his support of professional women.”
Gupta said she was “sorry” Ivanka found the questions “negative,” but felt they were “relevant” in light of the GOP nominee’s previous comments.
“Well, you said he made those comments,” Ivanka countered. “I don’t know that he said those comments.”
Gupta pointed out that the nominee made those remarks in an interview with NBC’s “Dateline.”
In that interview, Donald Trump said pregnancy is “a wonderful thing for the woman, it’s a wonderful thing for the husband, it’s certainly an inconvenience for a business.”
“I definitely did not make that up,” Gupta said.
“There’s plenty of time for you to editorialize around this,” Ivanka said. “But I think he put forth a really incredible plan that has pushed the boundaries of what anyone else is talking about. On childcare specifically, there are no proposals on the table. He really took ownership of this issue, and I really applaud him for doing that. I hope that, regardless of what your political viewpoint is, this should be celebrated.”
After taking a follow-up question about how her father planned to finance the maternity-leave proposal, Ivanka cut the interview short.
“I’m going to jump off. I have to run,” she said. “I apologize.”
Earlier in the interview, Gupta pressed the would-be first daughter on why the Trump plan’s family leave policy doesn’t include fathers:
OK, so when it comes to same-sex—
So it’s meant to benefit, whether it’s in same-sex marriages as well, to benefit the mother who has given birth to the child if they have legal married status under the tax code.
Well, what about gay couples, where both partners are men?
The policy is fleshed out online, so you can go see all the elements of it. But the original intention of the plan is to help mothers in recovery in the immediate aftermath of childbirth.
So I just want to be clear that, for same-sex adoption, where the two parents are both men, they would not be receiving special leave for that because they don’t need to recover or anything?
Well, those are your words, not mine. [Laughs.] Those are your words. The plan, right now, is focusing on mothers, whether they be in same-sex marriages or not.
The interview was meant to be part of the Trump campaign’s outreach to female voters, most of whom have an unfavorable view of the brash real estate mogul, polls show.
Ivanka wasn’t the only Trump offspring to have an interview end abruptly this week.
An aide for Donald Trump Jr. shut down an interview with Pittsburgh’s WTAE after the Republican nominee’s son was asked about a recent report questioning the purchase of a portrait of Trump Sr. by the family’s charitable organization.
“You’re a director of the Trump Foundation charity,” the anchor commented to Trump Jr. “Did you sign off on charity money for a portrait?”
“No, I don’t know anything about that,” Trump Jr. responded before a voice off-camera cut the interviewer off.
“All right, that’s it,” the aide said. “We have to move on to the next one.”
