In stark contrast to her father, Ivanka Trump on Friday said the identity of the whistleblower whose complaint helped launch the impeachment inquiry is “not particularly relevant” to the investigation.
President Trump’s daughter and White House adviser told the AP that the whistleblower should no longer be a “substantive part” of the conversation and declined to speculate on the motives behind the person’s complaint.
She noted that the individual was not among administration officials who heard the president Trump ask his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, during a July 25 telephone call to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
“This is a third party who was not privy to the call and did not have firsthand information,” said Ivanka Trump, who is wrapping up a three-day visit to Morocco. “That is what was the catalyst for all of this discussion. But to me, it’s not particularly relevant aside from what the motivation behind all of this was.”
The president and his allies have been pressuring the news media to publicly identify the whistleblower.
Andrew Bakaj, the whistleblower’s lawyer, warned that such calls endanger the person as well as the system built to protect whistleblowers.
“Identifying any name for the whistleblower will simply place that individual and their family at risk,” he told AFP.
“It won’t, however, relieve the president of the need to address the substantive allegations, all of which have been substantially proven to be true.”
But Ivanka Trump also said she shares the president’s oft-repeated view that the impeachment probe is about “overturning the results of the 2016 election.”
“Basically since the election, this has been the experience that our administration and our family has been having,” she said of continued criticism of the president.
“Rather than wait, under a year, until the people can decide for themselves based on his record and based on his accomplishments, this new effort has commenced.”
She also rejected any suggestion that her own family has been profiting off the presidency — even as her father and his allies have criticized the involvement of Hunter Biden with a Ukrainian oil venture when his father was vice president.
Ivanka Trump said the Bidens had “created wealth as a derivative” of public service while her family had made its money in business before her father entered the White House.