Ivanka Trump said Friday that the House impeachment inquiry is just an attempt to overturn the 2016 election, like her father, but she parted ways with President Trump in an interview with The Associated Press when she said that the Ukraine whistleblower’s identity was “not particularly relevant.”
“The whistleblower shouldn’t be a substantive part of the conversation,” she told the AP, saying the person “did not have firsthand information.”
Of the individual’s identity, she added that, “to me, it’s not particularly relevant aside from what the motivation behind all of this was.”
President Trump and some GOP allies have been pressing Democrats and the news media to identify the whistleblower by name, though it is widely believe his identity is well-known inside D.C. media and political circles.
For her, though, Ivanka Trump believes the person’s motivations are more important.
In a wide-ranging AP interview, Ivanka Trump also talked about the family’s criticism of 2020 Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden, whether she’d like another four years in the White House, and the potential sale in the future of her family’s landmark hotel in Washington, D.C.
In a wide-ranging, 25-minute interview, Ivanka Trump also addressed her family’s criticism of Democrat Joe Biden and his son Hunter, whether she wants four more years in the White House and the possible future sale of her family’s landmark Washington hotel.
As to whether the impeachment inquiry is legitimate, House Democrats have said they have an obligation to look into allegations that the president abused his power in office.
“Basically since the election this has been the experience that our administration and our family has been having,” Ivanka Trump said of persistent criticism of the president. “Rather than wait, under a year, until the people can decide for themselves based on his record and based on his accomplishments, this new effort has, has commenced.”
“But to us, it’s really been like this from the beginning,” she said.
Asked about the central theme of the current impeachment inquiry — that President Trump threatened to withhold military aid from Ukraine if that government did not provide him with political “dirt” on the Bidens — Ivanka Trump defended her father.
“The president put forth a transcript,” she said, referring to an account of the president’s July phone conversation with Ukraine’s president. “So everything is in the transcript.”
And though her father is not universally supported, Ivanka Trump said she believes his policies are helping everyone.
“I think when Americans are winning, we’re feeling great, so I wouldn’t consider [the impeachment inquiry] a low point,” she said. “I think Americans are prospering like never before.”
Hunter Biden was serving on the board of a Ukrainian gas company at a reported salary of $50,000 a month at the same time his father, then the Vice President, was leading the Obama administration’s diplomatic dealings with Kiev.
The Trump administration has said the president suggested that the Ukrainian government should look into allegations of wrongdoing and corruption.
The Bidens have not been charged with any criminal activity.