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Ivanka Trump: My Father Knows when I Disagree with Him | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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US President Donald Trump whispers to his daughter Ivanka during a press conference at Trump Tower in New York in January. (AFP)


Washington – Ivanka Trump, appointed as close aide to her father US President Donald Trump, said she does not always agree with her father and that she lets him know it.

In her first interview since being appointed to her new position in the White House, Ivanka told CBS News that she regularly expresses her views and that her father agrees with her on many of them.

But when she disagrees with him, “he knows it, and I express myself with total candor.”

The first daughter responded to the criticism that she has not publicly denounced parts of President Trump’s conservative agenda.

Now taking on an official unpaid role in the administration, Ivanka Trump has come under increased scrutiny. So far she has focused on policies relating to women and workforce development, but she has drawn criticism for avoiding public comment on her father’s travel ban, border wall, proposed budget cuts or rollback of environmental regulations.

Ivanka argued: “I would say not to conflate lack of public denouncement with silence.”

She added: “If being complicit … is wanting to be a force for good and to make a positive impact, then I’m complicit.”

Ivanka, a 35-year-old mother of three, previously held executive roles at the Trump Organization and ran her self-named lifestyle brand, which offers clothing and jewelry. She relinquished those positions to come to Washington, though she retains ownership of her brand.