Ivanka Trump Breaks Silence Following Father Donald’s Impeachment

President Donald Trump‘s daughter, White House senior adviser Ivanka Trump, called the House of Representatives’ impeachment of the president “raw partisan politics.” She also claims the move has “energized” her father. On Wednesday, the House voted to impeach Trump on two counts related to Trump withholding military aid from Ukraine in order to influence that country’s government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and a discredited claim that Ukraine tried to influence the 2016 presidential election.

“He said it didn’t even feel like he was being impeached,” Ivanka told Face the Nation‘s Margaret Brennan.

“It is pretty unprecedented that support for impeachment has decreased over time as more information was presented to the American people,” she continued. “It’s decreased, not increased. So with all of this time spent, with all of these witnesses who didn’t have firsthand knowledge, with all of these people that have been paraded in front of the American people, support for this action has decreased. So, you know, I think he sees it for what it is, which is really just raw partisan politics.”

Ivanka said Trump is “energized” by the impeachment, and said the “63 million-plus voters who elected him to office” are as well.

“This is historic, as you note. And in many ways, including the fact that it is the first purely partisan impeachment,” Ivanka said. “In fact, the only thing bipartisan was the vote against proceeding forward.”

In the first poll since the House’s vote on Wednesday, conducted by Politico and Morning Consult, 52 percent said they supported the Houses’ articles of impeachment, while 43 percent opposed them. Fifty-two percent said they supported Trump’s impeachment and removal from office, and 42 percent disapproved.

On Wednesday, the House voted along party lines to approve articles accusing Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. This is only the third time a president has been impeached, following Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998.

The next step of the process is a trial in the Senate, which will decide if Trump is removed from office. However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Thursday that the House might wait until the Senate announces its rules for the trial before handing the articles of impeachment to the Senate.

“When we see the process that’s set forth in the Senate, then we’ll know the number of managers we’ll have to move forward, and who we would choose,” Pelosi said, reports CBS News.

Sources later told CBS News that the White House is going to argue that Trump has not actually been impeached yet because of Pelosi’s decision.

The foundation for the impeachment proceedings is Trump’s July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which he requested the new Ukrainian government investigate Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, to obtain information that could be used against Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

Excerpts of Ivanka’s interview with Brennan aired on CBS Evening News Thursday and CBS This Morning Friday, and more will air on Sunday, Dec. 29 during Face the Nation.

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