Ivanka Trump may be a senior adviser to the president of the United States and champions the empowerment of working women, but she is Donald Trump‘s daughter first and foremost.
So please, understanding members of the free press, know that it’s pretty inappropriate for the president’s daughter to be asked any and all questions relating to the at least 20 women who say the president has sexually harassed or assaulted them in the decades prior to his public service.
Speaking to NBC News for the Today show, Ivanka told anchor Peter Alexander, upon being asked if she believed her father’s accusers, that she thought it was 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.”
“Do you believe your father’s [sexual misconduct] accusers?” –@PeterAlexander
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) February 26, 2018
“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.” –@IvankaTrump pic.twitter.com/23AVPgcOdE
Ivanka continued: “I don’t think that’s a question you would ask many other daughters. I believe my father, I know my father, so I think I have that right as a daughter to believe my father.”
Ivanka had previously been called out for hypocritically supporting the Times Up and Me Too movements without speaking out against her father. Following in her father’s footsteps of speaking out in support of men required to answer to multiple women accusing them of sexual misconduct, it appears that Ivanka too believes that if the accused says there’s “no truth” to any allegation, that is the truth itself.
Previously, President Trump has earned himself the moniker of being the “Believe Men” president by defending men also accused of sexual impropriety such as former Fox News talking head Bill O’Reilly and Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore. Despite women coming forward saying they were subject to sexual harassment and sexual impropriety (some as teenagers), Trump has weighted in support of all these men, among others.
Much like Ivanka’s use of her father’s excuse to deny the allegations, Moore earned Trump’s approval, with Trump saying, “[Moore] denies it. Look, he denies it. I mean, if you look at what is really going on, and you look at all the things that have happened over the last 48 hours, he totally denies it.”
Across Twitter, critics of the first daughter accused her of being a hypocrite and for using her position as Trump’s daughter to excuse herself from any responsibility as a government employee or an outspoken supporter of women and a financial beneficiary of women’s empowerment.
um. a daughter who is also a senior adviser to the President of the United States, and whose portfolio purview includes women's issues like helping female business owners, working women, families, etc. https://t.co/wEevYgKYVE
— Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) February 26, 2018
"I think it's pretty inappropriate to take a high-level job in the White House and then when a reporter asks you a legitimate question dodge it by invoking your status as 'a daughter'" — @JuddLegum https://t.co/BRUdKvr33e
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) February 26, 2018
either Ivanka Trump is a senior White House official and representative of the United States—and thus these questions are completely appropriate—or she's just the president's kid, in which case, get her out of the White House. https://t.co/pwAvRHYenU
— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) February 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/iSmashFizzle/status/968137418498084864
https://twitter.com/lkherman/status/968124366482534400
https://twitter.com/espiers/status/968131633399455744
https://twitter.com/dstfelix/status/968117112152756227
While Ivanka says she supports women’s endeavors and the struggle for equality, her support seems to fall just short of her father’s accusers.