Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner largely kept their distance from Donald Trump’s campaign this time around, but took the stage with him when the Republican nominee gave a victory speech early Wednesday.
The two clapped as the former president basked in his political comeback and in the GOP taking back control of the Senate.
But they played little role in the win, apparently.
The president-elect’s oldest daughter campaigned for him in 2016 and 2020, offering a softer side than her belligerent, bloviating father. She served as one of his top advisers in his first term.
But when the elder Trump launched his third bid for the White House after his 2020 defeat amid mounting legal woes, she announced that she and Kushner, who was also a senior adviser in the Trump White House, were leaving politics to focus on their family.
“While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena,” she said. (She did, however, appear with Kushner at the Republican National Convention in July to see her father accept the nomination.)
Kushner recently reaffirmed that he was not seeking to return to the White House, even if his father-in-law called and offered him a job.
Kushner told Axios he was committed to his $3 billion private equity fund, staked in part by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. His firm has raked in tens of millions of dollars in fees since 2021 despite no return of profit to the countries involved, according to a New York Times report.
Kushner appears to be content staying on the political sidelines.
“We’re rooting for him — obviously, we’re proud of him,” Kushner said of Trump to The New York Times last week. “But, you know, either way, our life will just continue to move forward.”
And cheered they did in the wee hours Wednesday as Trump declared victory.
Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images