Ivanka Trump criticized major Republican leaders for not attending the party’s convention in Cleveland this week.
“That’s their choice if they don’t wanna be part of the narrative, if they don’t wanna be part of the future,” the eldest daughter of presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump told ABC News correspondent Lara Spencer in an pre-taped interview Monday.
The 34-year-old business mogul said she was not offended that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney or Arizona Sen. John McCain — all former GOP presidential hopefuls — have decided not to attend the convention or back her father for president.
“My father is an outsider and we went through a very tough primary and he emerged from that the winner, but there were certainly ruffled feathers along the way,” Trump said.
But the well-spoken businesswoman did not express dismay about the lack of endorsements from the 2008 or 2012 GOP nominees, nor did she agree that her father was polarizing. Trump pointed toward the future and the campaign’s grassroots supporters that have turned out in record numbers this primary season.
“This really is about a forward-looking moment,” Trump added. “I do think there is much more unity than the media reports, though.”
She will speak at the convention on Thursday night.
