Friends Chelsea Clinton, Ivanka Trump Haven’t Talked ‘In A Long Time’
Chelsea Clinton and her close friend Ivanka Trump are no longer talking. This is what the outspoken daughter of former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told Stephen Colbert when the talk show host asked her about the status of her friendship with Donald Trump’s daughter.
Clinton, 38, was on the Monday night episode of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert to promote her new book entitled She Persisted Around the World when the host asked if she and Ivanka, 36, were still friends. Clinton didn’t answer him directly but implied that they are no longer friends, according to Bustle.
“I have not spoken to her in a long time,” Clinton said of Trump. “It’s clear though that she has supported policies and decisions that I don’t agree with. I’ve been very vocal about my opposition to President Trump.”
Colbert then joked about Chelsea calling Ivanka to ask her if she could help prevent a possible war with North Korea. Chelsea had a more serious response.
“I mean, I’m really sad that we’re at a point in time where that even has to be said. That we’re at a point in time where we have a president who has such, you know, callous disregard for thoughtful, coherent, kind of expert-advised foreign policy… I would hope that is something that, regardless of where we sit on the political spectrum, we could agree on.”
During the interview, Colbert also asked Chelsea if it was right for Ivanka, who’s been bombarded with criticisms since taking an official role in the White House, to be “fair game.” Chelsea said she should “expect to be scrutinized” the same way “anyone who works for the president” should know they’d be the subject of criticisms.
Chelsea Clinton: Criticizing Ivanka is fair game https://t.co/VJvel4XmMh pic.twitter.com/Iv7JYu91DQ
— The Hill (@thehill) March 6, 2018
Clinton’s response to Colbert about her friendship with Ivanka was completely different from the time she was asked the same question by former Today show host Matt Lauer in 2016. Chelsea was interviewed prior to her mother’s official acceptance of the Democratic Party’s nomination to run for president. She was set to introduce Hillary at the convention, a week after Ivanka did the same for Donald Trump.
Lauer asked Clinton about the younger Trump and she said she thought of Ivanka as a friend despite their parents’ rivalry, according to Today. Ivanka also told People that her friendship with Chelsea “has never been about politics” though she admitted that “there’s certainly tremendous intensity around both of our lives right now.”
That intensity may have finally caught up with the former and current first daughters as the two have lost contact recently, according to Chelsea. Interestingly, the younger Clinton’s statement regarding her friendship with Ivanka echoes what Donald said about Hillary before.
Chelsea and Ivanka struck an unlikely friendship at a time when Hillary and Donald were friendly to each other before becoming bitter rivals. Hillary was, in fact, invited to Donald and Melania’s wedding in 2005. However, in an interview before his Republican nomination became official, Donald told People that he hasn’t “spoken to [Hillary] in a long time.” He also hinted that the two were merely fair-weather friends.
Trump said he was friendly with Clinton because he was “a business person” and it was to his “advantage to be friendly.”
“When you are in business you have to be friendly with everybody. Republican, Democrat, Secretary of State,” Trump said.
When Donald and Hillary started hurtling hurtful and accusing words against each other, the friendship between their daughters apparently stayed strong for some time before the recent revelation that the two haven’t been communicating.
Ivanka told People that she and Chelsea are “both incredibly supportive” of their parents “as we should be.” She also said the two “continue to have great respect for one another.”
“Friendship is always more important than politics,” Clinton told People. “I learned that growing up, watching my parents be friends with people across the political spectrum in Arkansas.”
