Eric Trump Says Sister Ivanka Wouldn’t ‘Let Herself’ Be Sexually Harassed

Eric Trump, son of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, is seen during the final round of the Cadillac Championship golf tournament, Sunday, March 6, 2016, in Doral, Fla. (AP Photo/Luis Alvarez)
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Eric Trump clarified his father’s previous remarks that if Ivanka Trump was facing sexual harassment at work she would leave the company or even her career field, saying that his sister wouldn’t “let” herself be harassed in the first place.

In an interview on CBS News Tuesday, hosts asked him about the elder Trump’s defense of ex-Fox News boss Roger Ailes, who has been accused of sexual harassment and is currently facing a lawsuit from fired Fox host Gretchen Carlson. Trump went on to say that his father’s comments were misunderstood.

“There’s no question that it should be addressed and be addressed strongly,” he said.

“Ivanka is a strong, powerful woman,” he said. “She wouldn’t allow herself to be objected to it. And by the way, you should certainly take it up with human resources. And I think she definitely would, as a strong person. At the same time, I don’t think she would allow herself to be subjected to it.”

Pressed about recent allegations of sexual harassment against ex-Fox News boss Roger Ailes, Donald Trump said in an interview with USA Today published Monday that if someone treated his daughter the way Ailes was accused of treating women, he’d encourage her to get a new job.

When previously asked about the swirling accusations that Ailes had a history of harassing female employees, Trump told NBC’s Chuck Todd that he didn’t believe the allegations and that the women who made such claims had said great things about Ailes.

But when USA Today columnist Kirsten Powers asked him to expand on those comments, Trump claimed to be unaware that there were multiple women accusing Ailes of sexual harassment, not just fired anchor Gretchen Carlson, who filed a lawsuit against him in July.

When Powers asked how Trump would feel if his daughter, Ivanka Trump, had been subjected to the same behavior Ailes was accused of, Trump said he’d put the onus on her to leave the company or even the field in which she was working.

“I would like to think she would find another career or find another company if that was the case,” he said.

These comments come days after it was reported that Trump had been advising Ailes in the final days of his Fox tenure.

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