EXCLUSIVEInside Ivanka Trump's emerging role as Donald's fiercest public defender
- READ MORE: Ivanka opens up about Donald Trump's legal battles
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Ivanka Trump has re-emerged as her father Donald's fiercest public defender, even as she defiantly says she won't return to politics.
The former first daughter will attend the Republican National 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 serve in any political capacity at the event as a delegate, fundraiser or otherwise,' the source said.
Other Trump family members are expected to be in attendance. Meanwhile, Ivanka sat down for a one-hour on camera interview last week, where, among other topics, she expressed her support for Donald Trump.
Ivanka Trump has re-emerged as a top Donald Trump defender
Ivanka's decision is 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 she has done a 180 on politics since Donald Trump lost that contest.
Ivanka opened up 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, after four years of serving in her father's White House, felt like she 'left it all on the field.'
'I spent four years in Washington. I feel like I left it all 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.
She said, however, she is father's top supporter, as the former president battles multiple legal cases.
'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.
Ivanka was a senior advisor in Trump's administration from 2017 until 2021, but she has not been heavily involved in his second bid for the White House.
When Donald Trump announced his bid for re-election last year, Ivanka said in a statement posted to social media that she loved her father but would be staying out of politics. She was not at his announcement speech. Nor did she attend the first presidential debate.
'I love my father very much. This time around, I'm 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, going forward I will do so outside the political arena,' she said at the time.
She also was one of the few family members who didn't join him at his trial in New York earlier this year, when the former president was being prosecuted over hush-money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.
She did, however, join her stepmother Melania - who also never appeared at the trial - in gathering around Donald Trump at Trump Tower after the jury convicted him on 34 felony counts
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 for her father even if she doesn't formally return to the political realm.
Fridman asked Ivanka Trump to elaborate on her statement now that Donald has again clinched the Republican nomination and now may be the favorite to win in November.
Ivanka Trump has opened up for the first time about her father's court battles during a podcast
Trump's eldest daughter has been absent from her father's 2024 campaign, something she first stated publicly would be the case back when Donald announced his third run for the White House in 2022
'It was a decision rooted in me being a parent, really thinking about what they need from me now. 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 referenced 'the cost' her children would pay from her absence were she to go all in on the campaign trail, adding 'I'm not willing to make them bear that cost.'
'As their mom, I think it's really important that I do what's right for them. I think there a 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.'
She said there was 'a lot of darkness, a lot of negativity' in politics and says it's the opposite of 'what feels good for me as a human being.'
Earlier on, Fridman asked Trump more about her famous father, wondering how his run for office changed her own life.
'Nothing about our lives had been constructed with politics in mind,' she said of when Donald first told her she was running.
'It was an extraordinary experience, there was so much intensity and so much scrutiny and so much noise. That took, for sure, a moment to acclimate to. I'm not sure I ever fully acclimated to it.'
Ivanka cited 'the process' of learning the day-to-day workings of the presidency while on the job as a senior advisor as 'the most extraordinary' part of the Washington years.'
Then President Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump, who served as a senior adviser, at a White House event in June 2020
Ivanka Trump, Lauren Sanchez, and Kim Kardashian are Hollywood's newest besties - seen together at Kardashian's birthday party earlier this year
She also discussed the pressure to help her father, a neophyte in politics suddenly the leader of the free world.
'My father had never spent the night in Washington DC before staying in the White House,' she said.
'He trusted us and our ability to execute and there wasn't a part of me that could imagine a 70 or 80 year old version of myself that would have been ok with saying no.'
Ivanka and husband Jared Kushner have worked to distance themselves from the tumultuous world of politics amid Donald Trump's re-election campaign and his various legal woes.
They relocated to Florida with children Arabella, 12, Joseph, 9, and Theodore, 8, after Trump left office in January 2021.
Ivanka has been focused on charity work and reconnecting with her old friends since leaving the White House.
She has been seen with Lauren Sanchez and Kim Kardashian. Kim and Ivanka's friendship traces back several years, and it only strengthened after the pair began working on prison reforms together.
Kardashian met with then-President Trump to talk about the subject. Ivanka and husband Jared Kushner joined them.
Ivanka also has been seen on the Miami social scene, attending events like Art Basil.
'She basically wants a new life to compensate 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 group of friends.'
