President Trump said on Saturday that life for his daughter Ivanka would be “so much easier” if she weren’t his kid.
Speaking to a gathering at a World Bank symposium dedicated to women’s entrepreneurship in Hamburg, Germany, the president heaped praise on Ivanka, who was also in attendance.
“I’m very proud of my daughter, Ivanka — always have been, from day one,” he said.
After calling her a “champion,” Trump quipped: “If she weren’t my daughter, it would be so much easier for her.” Laughter followed. “Might be the only bad thing she has going, if you want to know the truth,” he added.
President Trump praises daughter Ivanka at G-20 Summit: “If she weren’t my daughter, it would be so much easier for her” pic.twitter.com/Q8F9C0MNUF— NBC News (@NBCNews) July 8, 2017
Ivanka ran a namesake fashion brand, helped to run her father’s business and appeared on his show, “The Apprentice,” before moving to Washington, D.C., for her new role as senior adviser in the White House. Her husband, Jared Kushner, also advises Trump.
Before the president spoke Ivanka briefly addressed the symposium, which included International Monetary Fund director Christine Lagarde and World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. Ivanka has made women’s empowerment a signature project of hers, attending World Bank and IMF meetings earlier in the year and co-authoring an op-ed with Kim pressing for more women in the world labor force.
President Trump, who also announced the U.S. would pledge $50 million to the World Bank women’s entrepreneurship initiative, said his daughter has been “a forceful advocate for landmark women entrepreneurs.”
“She worked very hard for the women entrepreneurs finance initiative,” he continued, noting that Ivanka has been “helping women all over the world.”
Both Trumps are in Hamburg this weekend for the G-20 summit. Ivanka made headlines on Saturday for briefly sitting in for her father at a table with world leaders as he left for one-on-one meetings with leaders.
