Ivanka Trump says she believes her father’s denials of sexual misconduct
Ivanka Trump said she believes President Donald Trump’s denials of sexual misconduct and dismissed an interviewer’s question on the topic as “inappropriate”, provoking the wrath of online activists who accused her of dodging tough issues and of selling out women.
Her comments came during a wide-ranging interview with NBC broadcast during her visit to South Korea, where she had travelled as the head of the US delegation attending the closing ceremony of the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
Asked about the allegations of inappropriate behaviour against the president, Ms Trump said: "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 there’s no truth to it.”
Ms Trump has positioned herself as a supporter of women’s issues in the White House and has tweeted her support of the #TimesUp movement which seeks to end harassment and abuse in both the workplace and in public life.
However, at times her stance has prompted accusations of hypocrisy given some of President Donald Trump’s public comments about women.
“I believe my father. I know my father. So, I think I have that right as a daughter to believe my father.”
Ivanka Trump’s First Daughter style
More than a dozen women came forward during the run-up to the 2016 election with allegations that Mr Trump had sexually harassed them.
He has repeatedly denied all accusations of misconduct.
Ms Trump’s critics accused her of letting down women or failing to understand her role in the White House.
What’s inappropriate is Ivanka Trump being part of the White House Administration.
— Axl Rose (@axlrose) February 26, 2018
Katherine Jellison, who heads the history department at Ohio University, said she was trying to have it both ways.
“You’re either a senior adviser or a daughter. She’s in this unique position that she’s still trying to work out," said Ms Jellison, an expert on first families.
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"Especially since she was last in the news as a senior adviser going to the Olympics.”
The White House went out of its way to make clear that Ivanka Trump traveled to South Korea as a senior adviser to the president, not a First Daughter. But as soon as she’s hit with a difficult question, suddenly she’s a daughter. https://t.co/yxn44dbDDK
— Jenna Johnson (@wpjenna) February 26, 2018
Ms Trump took on a number of diplomatic roles during her trip to the Olympics, visiting the Blue House in Seoul – the office and residence of South Korea’s president – before heading to Pyeongchang.
In her remarks, she said she was in South Korea to celebrate the Olympics and to reaffirm the US commitment to a "maximum pressure campaign to ensure that the Korean Peninsula is denuclearised."