Ivanka Trump broke her weeks-long silence regarding her father’s recent hush money criminal conviction during a podcast appearance released Tuesday.
The former White House staffer said the experience has been agonizing.
“On a human level, it’s my father and I love him very much, so it’s painful to experience, but ultimately, I wish it didn’t have to be this way,” she said on “The Lex Fridman Podcast.”
In May, ex-President Donald Trump was found guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in his New York trial related to a dalliance with adult film star Stormy Daniels, and his efforts to cover up payments made to keep her quiet.
However, sentencing in the case was delayed until September following the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling regarding presidential immunity earlier this week.
Ivanka Trump worked in the White House during her father’s time in office but has said she is stepping away from politics, which she described as a “rough, rough business.”
She reiterated those sentiments in Tuesday’s interview.
“It was a decision rooted in me being a parent, really thinking about what [my children] need from me now,” she said. “Politics is a rough business and I think it’s one that you also can’t dabble in. I think you have to be either all in or all out.”
Ivanka, who has not been a public presence as her dad seeks reelection, added it could be very hard on her kids to get fully involved in the campaign and that she’s “not willing to make them bear that cost.”
Ivanka shares three kids — Arabella, 12; Joseph, 10; and Theodore, 8 — with husband Jared Kushner.
“As their mom, I think it’s really important that I do what’s right for them. I think there are lot of ways you can serve, the enormity, the scale of what can be accomplished in government service, but I think there’s something equally valuable in helping in your own community.”
Ivanka previously made a subtle allusion to her father’s legal troubles in a May post on social media, the same day he was convicted.
“I love you dad,” she wrote on an Instagram Story, which included a photo of herself as a toddler posing with the ex-president.
Trump also faces criminal charges related to election interference stemming from the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol and mishandling of classified documents, as well as separate election interference charges in Georgia.