People Are Calling On Ivanka Trump To Respond To Her Dad's Kirsten Gillibrand Tweet

In the wake of what feels like the million sexual harassment and assault scandals that rocked the latter months of 2017, there’s one that’s begun making news again. After multiple women came forward on Dec. 11 to reiterate their accusations of sexual misconduct against President Donald Trump, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand publicly called on the president to step down. And Donald Trump (who has denied the allegations against him) shot back on Twitter with an insulting tweet about Gillibrand that many immediately called out for its implications. And now, people are wondering where his self-professed champion of women's rights daughter is, as Ivanka Trump stays silent on Trump’s Kirsten Gillibrand tweet.

Early on Tuesday Dec. 12, Donald Trump tweeted out an attack on Gillibrand, who had called on him to step down from office over multiple allegations of sexual harassment and assault the night before. He wrote,

Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office “begging” for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!

The tweet was pretty clearly a knee-jerk response to Gillibrand's calls for President Trump to step down. In a Monday afternoon interview with CNN, the senator said that the allegations against the president “are very credible allegations of misconduct and criminal activity, and he should be fully investigated and he should resign.” She added that if he didn’t, Congress "should have appropriate investigations of his behavior and hold him accountable."

Leaving aside the question of what exactly President Trump was trying to say with that word salad of a final sentence, many quickly called out the president's tweet for how inappropriate it was, and questioned whether it was intended as a sexual slur against Gillibrand. Elite Daily reached out to the White House for comment on the intention of his tweet, but did not hear back at time of publication. Fast on the heels of all the criticism, many started questioning what first daughter Ivanka Trump, who has positioned herself as a champion of women's empowerment, would — or should — say.

The answer? Nothing, apparently. How disappointing.

Even before taking on an official role in the White House, Ivanka positioned herself as an advocate for women in her father's administration. Her Twitter biography calls her an "advocate for the education & empowerment of women and girls," and she's been a public face for women's issues in the administration. She has also openly spoken out about sexual harassment — in a speech in Japan on Nov. 3, she said outright that sexual harassment can "never be tolerated." She said,

All too often, our workplace culture fails to treat women with appropriate respect. This takes many forms including harassment which can never be tolerated.

And she's taken a stand against President Trump-endorsed candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused of sexual misconduct with teenage girls. (Moore has denied the allegations.) Asked about Moore, Ivanka said that “there’s a special place in hell for people who prey on children." She added, "I’ve yet to see a valid explanation and I have no reason to doubt the victims’ accounts.”

So, her silence now is notable.

As of late on Tuesday afternoon, Ivanka Trump hasn't released any public comment on her father's tweet, nor the allegations against him. Elite Daily reached out to her representatives, but did not hear back by the time of publication.

Donald Trump has been accused of misconduct by more than a dozen women, with the allegations ranging from inappropriate remarks to groping to full on sexual assault. President Trump has denied all the claims against him, and the White House’s official position, as stated by Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in October, is that President Trump’s accusers are lying. His accusers are pushing back against being called liars — one of them, Summer Zervos, is taking legal action over President Trump's response, and is suing him for defamation over being branded a liar (a New York judge is currently determining if the suit can be brought to trial). And three of his other accusers are, like Gillibrand, calling for a Congressional investigation into the accusations against him.

But it seems that for all Ivanka Trump's high talk about supporting women, she's not willing to bring it so close to home.