http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2591641/Ivanka Trump defends father: 'He's not a groper'By KELLY COHEN (@POLITICOHEN_) • 5/18/16 9:29 AM
Ivanka Trump is pushing back against allegations in a New York Times story about her father's behavior toward women in private.
"I found it to be pretty disturbing, based on the facts as I know them," Trump's daughter told CBS host Norah O'Donnell in an interview that aired Wednesday morning. "I'm not in every interaction my father has, but he's not a groper — it's not who he is."
Donald Trump has gone on the attack since the Times story published over the weekend, even calling on the reporter to resign. One of the women in the story, an ex-girlfriend, has also said that the Times twisted her words to give them a negative connotation.
"Michael Barbaro, the author of the now discredited @nytimes hit piece on me with women, has in past tweeted badly about me. He should resign," the presumed Republican presidential tweeted Wednesday night.
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The Times has stood by the reporting.
Ivanka Trump said she knows the truth about her father because she is both his daughter and his business partner, and that the story has been "widely discredited since [its publication]."
"The lead person who was interviewed — for the story and that the story opens up with — was all over the news yesterday, saying that they manipulated what she was saying," Ivanka Trump said Wednesday. "So you know, I don't find it that meaningful to comment on this particular story because I think the facts are starting to speak for themselves."
When asked about her father's verbal attacks against women, such as Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, Ivanka said she believes those attacks "should be toned down, but not necessarily in relation to" them being against women.
"When I think about myself as a feminist, it's important that women are treated equally and he treats women and men equally," she explained.
"How does he change" his favorability among women, O'Donnell asked.
"You would have to ask him. I think that he's running his campaign. I think that people are just starting to see who he is," Ivanka said. "You know, the race is different now and I think that people will be able to see the softer side of him. He's going to be attacked in a different way, but it's different when you're being attacked by one person as opposed to 16."
Ivanka Trump's "not a groper" comment come a day after Trump's wife, Melania, said "he's not Hitler."
