politics

Ivanka Trump: "I don't know what it means to be complicit."

In her first interview in her new role as special advisor to the President, Ivanka Trump has been challenged for being ‘complicit’ in her father’s contentious actions.

Speaking to Gayle King for CBS News, in an interview taped on Tuesday, the First Daughter said, “I don’t know what it means to be complicit, but I hope time will prove that I have done a good job and much more importantly, that my father’s administration is the success that I know it will be”.

When asked how it felt to be accused of being complicit, Trump said, “I don’t know that the critics who may say that of me, if they found themselves in this very unique and unprecedented situation that I am now in, would do any differently than I am doing”.

“So I hope to make a positive impact. If being complicit is wanting to be a force for good and to make a positive impact, then I’m complicit.”

In the interview, taped at her Washington home, Trump defended herself and argued she’s forthright with her father when it comes to his decisions. “Where I disagree with my father, he knows it, and I express myself with total candour,” she said.

Image: CNN

"Where I agree, I fully lean in and support the agenda and hope that I can be an asset to him and make a positive impact."

Trump was also challenged about nepotism and the role of her husband, Jared Kushner, within the administration. Despite having little experience, Kushner currently has a key role in foreign affairs, and is running the White House Office of American Innovation.

However, the President's daughter was adamant her husband is entirely deserving of the role.

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"You know, a lot of people would say the same about how could somebody successfully win the presidency who had never been engaged in politics and my father did that and Jared was instrumental in helping his campaign succeed," she said.

"Jared is incredibly smart, very talented, has enormous capacity. He is humble in the recognition of what he doesn’t know. And is tremendously secure in his ability to seek informed viewpoints. He has an amazing team that my father has built at the White House, and that he’s built that’s helping work on each of these initiatives."
Ivanka Trump is expected to make more and more public appearances in the coming weeks, given her recent official title in the White House. While she will receive no pay for her role as special advisor to the President, she does have ethical obligations.