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Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka plans to attend the upcoming Republican National Convention and witness his formal nomination as the GOP’s presidential candidate, despite maintaining more public distance from his political machine in recent months.
A spokesperson for Ivanka Trump, who served as an advisor in the Trump administration, told The New York Post she would be in attendance at the four-day convention, which will take place July 15 through July 18 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, appearing in a personal capacity.
The decision comes as she has put more public distance between herself and her father in recent months, and marks a stark difference from past RNCs.
In 2020, she introduced her father, and in 2016, she spoke at the convention.
She did not attend any of Trump’s high-profile hush money trial in Manhattan, even as her siblings Donald Trump, Jr, Eric, and Tiffany were there.
She told podcaster Lex Fridman in a recent interview that the conviction was “painful.”
“On a human level, it’s my father and I love him very much, so it’s painful to experience, but ultimately, I wish it didn’t have to be this way,” she said.
During the interview, she discussed her 2022 announcement that she would not take part in her father’s comeback presidential campaign.
“I think first and foremost, it was a decision rooted in me being a parent, really thinking about what they need from me now,” she said. “Politics is a rough, rough business and I think it’s one that you also can’t dabble in. I think you have to either be all in or all out.
Donald Trump is heading into the convention with surprising momentum, on the heels of an underwhelming debate performance from Joe Biden, and a decision from a New York judge to postpone his sentencing in the hush money trial until after the RNC to make time to consider the impact of a recent Supreme Court hearing, which found that Trump has “absolute” immunity from criminal prosecution for “official” acts.
While Ivanka’s appearance will surely hearten her father, most political eyes will be on a different set of attendees.
Donald Trump is expected to announce his pick for vice president at the convention, after teasing last week that he already knows who will join him on the ticket.
A source told NBC News that the Trump campaign has already received vetting materials, and the VP race has narrowed to North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and US Senators Marco Rubio of Florida, Tim Scott of South Carolina, and JD Vance of Ohio.