Donald Trump said his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner will not serve in his administration if he is elected president again in 2024 because it was “too painful for the family” last time.
“I said, that’s enough for the family. You know why? It’s too painful for the family,” Trump told Fox News host Bret Baier in an interview that aired in part on Sunday.
Baier had asked Trump if he planned to involve his daughter and son-in-law in a hypothetical second administration.
“Nobody has been through what my family has been through,” Trump complained, adding that his daughter had been “making a fortune” with a “really successful line of clothing” before he appointed her as one of his White House advisers.
“When I did this, she was really ― she closed it up,” Trump said. “She sort of felt she had to.”
Ivanka Trump shut down her namesake lifestyle brand in July 2018, citing a commitment to her work in Washington and following a significant dip in sales.
She and her family members have long faced criticism for skirting conflicts of interest by maintaining their business ties while holding influential White House positions.
She said last year she didn’t plan to be involved in her father’s 2024 presidential bid or politics, and would instead focus on her family.
Donald Trump also expressed sympathy for his second-eldest son, Eric Trump, who was heavily involved in his father’s presidential campaigns and efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
“He’s a fine young man, good student, good everything, comes in. We’re doing beautifully,” he said. “Then I decide to run for president. I mean, I don’t think anybody in the world in history has ever had more subpoenas sent to him.”
Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, was indicted by a federal grand jury earlier this month on 37 charges linked to his removal of sensitive documents from the White House and refusal to return them. It followed a separate indictment in April by the Manhattan district attorney. In that case, Trump faces 34 felony charges that he falsified business records to hide a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels.