Inside Ivanka Trump’s emerging role as Donald’s fiercest public defender

Ivanka Trump has once again become her father Donald’s most ardent public defender, even as she has steadfastly stated she will not return to politics.

The former eldest daughter will attend the Republican National Party Convention next week, a source close to her told DailyMail.com, but she will be there in a personal capacity to support her father.

She will be there on Thursday, July 18, to see Donald Trump formally accept the nomination. However, Ivanka “will not play a political role at the event as a delegate, fundraiser or otherwise,” the source said.

Other members of the Trump family are expected to attend. Meanwhile, Ivanka spent an hour on camera last week, during which she, among other things, expressed her support for Donald Trump.

Ivanka’s decision stands in stark contrast to the 2020 election, when she introduced her father at that year’s convention. She was also heavily involved in the 2016 convention.

But since Donald Trump lost that battle, she has done a 180-degree turn in politics.

Ivanka spoke candidly about her decision to leave politics in a rare interview. In an hour-long interview with Lex Fridman, she said she wanted to spend more time with her three children and that after serving in her father’s White House for four years, she felt like she had “left everything on the field.”

“I spent four years in Washington. I feel like I left everything on the field. I feel really good about it and I feel really privileged to have been able to do what I did,” she said.

However, she said she is her father’s biggest supporter as the former president faces multiple lawsuits.

“On a human level, it’s my father and I love him very much, so it’s painful to experience, but ultimately I hope it doesn’t have to be this way,” she said.

Ivanka served as a senior adviser in Trump’s administration from 2017 to 2021, but she was not closely involved in his second attempt at the White House.

When Donald Trump announced his reelection bid last year, Ivanka said in a statement on social media that she loved her father but would not get involved in politics. She did not attend his announcement speech. And she did not attend the first presidential debate.

“I love my father very much. This time, I am choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we ​​are creating as a family,” the former White House adviser said. “While I will always love and support my father, I will do so outside of the political arena going forward,” she said at the time.

She was also one of the few family members not present at his trial in New York earlier this year, when the former president was charged over hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.

However, she did join her stepmother Melania — who also never showed up at the trial — in rallying around Donald Trump at Trump Tower after the jury convicted him of 34 felonies.

But Ivanka Trump — with her 7.5 million followers on Instagram and 10.4 million followers on X — could be a powerful influencer and defender of her father even if she doesn’t formally return to the political sphere.

Fridman asked Ivanka Trump to clarify her statement now that Donald has re-clinched the Republican nomination and may be the favorite to win in November.

“It was a decision that came out of my parenting, where I really thought about what they need from me now. Politics is a tough business and I don’t think you should get involved in it. I think you either have to go all in or get out.”

Ivanka referred to “the price” her children would pay if she went all-in on the campaign, adding: “I’m not willing to let them pay that price.”

“As their mother, I feel very strongly about doing what’s right for them. I think there are many ways to serve, the enormity, the scale of what can be accomplished in public service, but I think there’s something equally valuable about serving in your own community.”

She said there is “a lot of darkness and negativity” in politics and that it is the opposite of “what feels right to me as a human being.”

Earlier, Fridman had asked Trump more about her famous father and wondered how his run for the White House had changed her own life.

“Nothing in our lives was based on politics,” she said of the first time Donald told her she was running.

“It was an extraordinary experience, there was so much intensity and so much control and so much noise. It definitely took a while to get used to. I’m not sure I ever got used to it completely.”

Ivanka called “the process” of learning about the day-to-day operations of the presidency while working as a senior adviser “the most special” part of her years in Washington.

She also discussed the pressure to help her father, who, as a newcomer to politics, had suddenly become the leader of the free world.

“My father had never stayed in Washington, D.C., before he stayed at the White House,” she said.

“He trusted us and our ability to execute. There was no part of me that could imagine a 70- or 80-year-old version of myself being okay with saying no.”

Ivanka and husband Jared Kushner have tried to distance themselves from the turbulent world of politics as Donald Trump is reelected and faces a host of legal problems.

After Trump left office in January 2021, they moved to Florida with their children Arabella (12), Joseph (9) and Theodore (8).

Since leaving the White House, Ivanka has focused on charity work and reconnecting with old friends.

She has been seen with Lauren Sanchez and Kim Kardashian. Kim and Ivanka’s friendship goes back years and only grew stronger after the pair began working together on prison reform.

Kardashian met with then-President Trump to discuss the topic, and was joined by Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner.

Ivanka has also been seen on the social scene in Miami, attending events such as Art Basil.

“She really wants a new life to make up for what she lost when she spent four years in her father’s Washington,” a source close to her told People earlier this year. “She misses her active social life and her group of friends.”