Ivanka Trump ‘Pained’ For Her Father And Country

Topline

Former President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, expressed “pain” in the wake of her father’s historic indictment in a somber Instagram post on Friday, as other prominent Republicans coalesced around the former president, echoing his claims the probe is a politically motivated “witch hunt.”

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as his daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump looks on during a … [+] news briefing at the White House March 20, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Key Facts

“I love my father, and I love my country. Today, I am pained for both,” Ivanka Trump wrote in an Instagram story, adding that she “appreciate[s]” those “across the political spectrum expressing support and concern.”

Her husband, Jared Kushner, who served alongside his wife as an adviser to Trump in the White House, also defended Trump hours earlier at an investment summit in Miami, where he said the unfolding criminal investigation has been “hard to watch,” while accusing “opponents of [Trump]

politically” of breaking “every norm.”

Kushner added he’s watched Trump face many adversities that have “only made him stronger,” a statement that appears to echo conservatives who sought to cast the indictment as a boon for Trump’s image.

Ivanka’s brothers, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., spoke in harsher terms, with both likening the investigation to political persecution that takes place in “third-world” countries.

Crucial Quote

“Soros-backed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is actually indicting my father . . . this is communist-level shit,” Donald Trump Jr. said in a video posted to Twitter on Friday, echoing Republicans who have linked Bragg to conspiracy theories about billionaire Democratic donor George Soros, who said Friday he does not know Bragg and has never donated directly to his campaign.

News Peg

Trump became the first former president in U.S. history to be indicted on Thursday when a Manhattan grand jury voted to bring charges against him in connection to the DA’s four-year probe into his role in hush-money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. Trump is reportedly facing more than 30 counts related to business fraud and will be arraigned in Manhattan criminal court on Tuesday afternoon, CBS News reported. The charges are widely expected to center around the contracts the Trump Organization used to reimburse Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen for the payments to Daniels, after federal prosecutors alleged in their 2018 case against Cohen the documents falsely specified Cohen was being paid for legal services.

Key Background

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have distanced themselves from Trump’s political aspirations since he lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden. Following Trump’s November announcement that he would wage a third run for the presidency, Ivanka Trump said she does “not plan to be involved in politics” instead “choosing to prioritize [her] young children and the private life [they] are creating as a family,” she wrote on Instagram. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have both been implicated in the various investigations into her father’s conduct. They were called to testify before the House January 6 committee and both told the panel that they tried to convince Trump to concede the election to Biden. Ivanka, Eric and Donald Trump Jr. are also named as defendants in an ongoing civil lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James claiming the Trump Organization inflated the value of its assets in a bid to secure more favorable loans.

Tangent

Trump’s Republican allies rushed to his defense in the hours after news of the indictment broke on Thursday. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) threatened in a tweet that Bragg’s office would be held “to account” by House Republicans. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called the indictment “un-American,” while invoking the Soros conspiracy and declaring he would refuse to aid in an extradition request for Trump (who was at Mar-A-Lago at the time of the indictment) if he does not voluntarily surrender. Former Vice President Mike Pence told CNN the charges are an “outrage” that will “only further serve to divide our country.” And Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) predicted the indictment would help Trump win the 2024 presidential election.

Contra

Bragg’s office fired back at House Republicans who claimed the indictment was politically motivated in a scathing letter Friday that accused the GOP members of colluding with Trump to “vilify and denigrate” the integrity of state justice systems using “baseless and inflammatory” theories. The letter, addressed to three House committee chairs who previously requested Bragg testify before Congress about the investigation—Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), James Comer (R-Ky.) and Bryan Steil (R-Wis.)—urges them to denounce the attacks against Bragg, including Trump’s prediction that there would be “death and destruction” if he is indicted.