In her first interview since taking a formal position as part of her father’s administration, Ivanka Trump defended herself against a growing public impression that she plays a passive role in the midst of several swirling executive branch controversies.
Asked by CBS News’ Gayle King to “weigh in” on how she feels about the criticism that she is “complicit” in the actions of President Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump spun the question to imply that she’s a party to positive endeavors.
“If being complicit is wanting to … be a force for good and to make a positive impact, then I’m complicit,” said Ivanka Trump, who was named assistant to the president last week despite announcing during her father’s campaign that she would not take a role in the administration.
Critics of the president have alleged that Ivanka Trump and her husband, senior adviser to the president Jared Kushner, have refused to push back against President Trump’s more divisive actions — including the effort to ban travelers from certain countries — despite their reportedly moderate personal beliefs.
“I would say not to conflate lack of public denouncement with silence. I think there are multiple ways to have your voice heard,” said Ivanka Trump. “In some case, it’s through protest and it’s through 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.”
“Saturday Night Live” parodied the critiques during an episode in March with a faux advertisement for an Ivanka Trump-branded perfume named “Complicit.”
“I don’t know that the critics who may say that of me, if they found themselves in this very unique and unprecedented situation that I am now in, would do any differently than I am doing,” said Ivanka Trump to King. “So I hope to make a positive impact. I don’t know what it means to be complicit, but you know, I hope time will prove that I have done a good job and much more importantly that my father’s administration is the success that I know it will be.”
Since her father’s election victory, Ivanka Trump has taken part in meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as participated in sessions on business and human trafficking.
She told King that when she agrees she fully “lean[s] in and support[s] the agenda.”
“[I] hope that I can be an asset to him and make a positive impact,” said Ivanka Trump. “But I respect the fact that he always listens. It’s how he was in business. It’s how he is as president.”
The full interview with Ivanka Trump will air Wednesday on “CBS This Morning.( ADAM KELSEY)
Link: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ivanka-trump-shes-complicit-force-good-amid-unprecedented/story?id=46579348
20
