Ivanka Trump says staying in Washington will be up to her kids, cites "unfinished" work
This story contains portions of Margaret Brennan's interview with Ivanka Trump, taped December 19, 2019 at the CBS Washington Bureau. More of Brennan's Ivanka Trump interview focusing on paid family leave is scheduled to air December 29 on "FACE THE NATION."
First daughter and presidential adviser Ivanka Trump wouldn't say if she intends on staying in Washington should her father win re-election in the upcoming 2020 presidential election. In an interview on paid family leave for federal workers, she said her future in the Trump administration is "driven first and foremost by my kids and their happiness."
"My decisions will always be flexible enough to ensure that their needs are being considered first and foremost. So they will really drive that answer for me," Ivanka Trump told CBS' "Face the Nation" when asked if she plans to be part of the administration come 2020.
"I think for me, I came down here — it's about the impact. It's about being able to deliver for the forgotten men and women that I met over the course of two years as I campaigned around this country. And over the last two and a half years as I've traveled to almost every state in this nation. It's about providing pathways to opportunity," she added.
Trump's time in Washington has been contentious at best. Shortly after her father was first elected president, she told "CBS This Morning" co-anchor Gayle King that she initially wanted to treat her time in D.C. "like I'm a visitor," and she never envisioned leaving her life in Manhattan.
"My business was there. My life was there. So this is actually an amazing moment in time where I came to Washington and I told Jared [Kushner] with my kids, I want to treat it almost like I'm a visitor," Trump said in 2017.
But now, with two-plus years as a Washington resident and facing a re-election campaign, she told "Face the Nation" that "the day I walk into the West Wing and I don't feel a shiver up my spine is the day I've been here too long."
"I still every day feel a tremendous humbling and sense of privilege that I'm able to do the work that I came to Washington to do, that the president's empowered me. And I feel just incredibly grateful to be able to give back to a country that's given me so much, and I'm doing my very best," she said.
She called much of her work in the administration — which has largely focused on paid family leave policies and driving up investment in apprenticeship and skill building programs — "unfinished," saying "we've done so much, but it's not enough yet."
Asked if that sense of unfinished business leaves her wanting to pursue political aspirations of her own, Trump appeared more certain.
"Oh, gosh. You know, for me, it's the politics is truthfully less interesting," she said. "Even in this combative climate, where — where people are just killing each other and it's just pure partisan raw politics, there is so much positivity and there's so much hope."