Ivanka Trump Defends Keeping Her Political Opinions Private

"What's relevant is the policies of the White House," the First Daughter says

By Zach Johnson Nov 28, 2018 3:40 PMTags
Ivanka Trump, Good Morning AmericaIda Mae Astute/ABC

In an interview on Good Morning America, Ivanka Trump, senior adviser to President Donald Trump, addressed claims that the American people don't know what she stands for politically.

"I wasn't elected, so my perspective and opinion [are] not as relevant. What's relevant is the policies of the White House," Ivanka told ABC News' Deborah Roberts today in Wilder, Ida. "And what I feel deeply privileged every day is that I have the ability to serve our nation and lean in in areas where I'm deeply passionate and serve this country that's given me so much."

Ivanka added that her father "knows exactly where I stand on any issue," telling Deborah, "I'll always tell you what I'm for, but it is not my place as somebody working within a White House to tell you what I'm against. The only person who knows that is one person—and he knows it."

"He is my father—and he's my boss. One of the reasons that I have such a good relationship with him, in both a personal and professional capacity, is because I'm incredibly candid with him," Ivanka said, noting that she "frequently" disagrees with Donald. In August, for example, she criticized Donald's immigration enforcement policy. But earlier this week, patrol agents dispersed tear gas on migrants who attempted to breach the border. While she sympathized with innocent children who were harmed, Ivanka agreed with her father that securing the border is the priority. "I think, like any other person with a heart, it's devastating to see the images and seeing children put at risk. Running towards the border is heartbreaking. But there are people in the caravan who are not so innocent...[He] has to protect our country's security."

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Ivanka was also asked to share what she's learned since getting into politics. "I think if you don't have regrets, you're not introspective; I am a rather introspective person. I think every misstep has made me smarter, made me stronger. I'm a different person than when I arrived in Washington," she said. Asked to be more specific, Ivanka said, "Understanding the nature of a bureaucracy when you came from such a fast-paced entrepreneurial environment. I've never been criticized publicly until politics entered my life, and a lot of the things I used to be praised for were somehow weaponized against me. I actually have experienced on a personal level this tremendous growth in my own sense of self and seeing more brightly my own compass and signal. I'm so much less motivated by ameliorating the critics than I think I ever would've been."

The 37-year-old also addressed another scandal related to the use of a private e-mail account. Ivanka maintained they were properly archived and contained no classified information. She also denied it bears any resemblance to Hillary Clinton's email scandal, which Donald often criticized. "All of my emails are stored and preserved. There were no deletions. There is no attempt to hide," she said, adding, "There's no equivalency to what my father's spoken about."

Furthermore, Ivanka told Deborah, "There is no restriction of using personal email. In fact, we're instructed that if we receive an email to our personal account that could relate to government work, you simply just forward it to your government account so it can be archived."