Ivanka Trump works in the White House as an adviser to the president. By assuming a post in her father’s administration, Trump voluntarily expanded the scope of her role far beyond normal daughterly duties.
But in an interview that aired Monday, Trump sought to use her membership in the first family as a shield against tough questions about the president from NBC’s Peter Alexander. Asked if she believes the women who have accused her father of sexual misconduct, Trump replied, “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.”
“I don’t think that’s a question you would ask many other daughters,” she added.
Tiffany Trump, who does not work in the White House and is not meaningfully involved in politics at all, could more reasonably make that argument. But the elder Trump daughter made it her job to work for the president, and actively advocates on his behalf in a professional and political capacity. Her answer to Alexander’s question— “I believe my father, I know my father. So, I think I have that right as a daughter to believe my father”— could have stood on its own anyway.
As a White House official, Trump is an advocate and surrogate on the president’s behalf; she’s voluntarily politicized herself and is therefore not entitled to special treatment from the press. Any high-ranking presidential adviser, let alone one whose portfolio includes women’s issues, would reasonably face that question.
On the whole, Ivanka Trump has absolutely been subject to grossly unfair media coverage. But this is not an inquiry she should be able to skirt.
