Ivanka Trump Breaks Twitter Silence After Donald Trump's Federal Indictment

Ivanka Trump, daughter of former President Donald Trump, broke her Twitter silence on Sunday amid her father's federal indictment last week.

Trump, who has remained the frontrunner to clinch the 2024 GOP nomination for president since launching his reelection campaign this past November, is facing 37 federal charges over his alleged mishandling of classified documents that he took with him when he left the White House in January 2021. In its investigation, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said that the former president took the sensitive material to Mar-a-Lago, his private residence in Florida, and obstructed governmental efforts to return the documents to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Trump, meanwhile, pleaded not guilty to the charges in a federal courthouse in Miami on Tuesday and has maintained his innocence throughout the DOJ's probe.

Ivanka took to Twitter on Sunday afternoon to wish her husband Jared Kushner a Happy Father's Day, her first tweet since her father was indicted on federal charges.

"Happy Father's Day, Jared! Today and every day, the kids and I celebrate the incredible father and loving partner you are. Thank you for the countless ways you fill our lives with joy, guidance, and boundless love," she wrote.

A few hours later, she posted a photo to Twitter honoring her father by writing, "Happy Father's Day, dad ! I love you !"

Ivanka, who served as a senior adviser in her father's administration, has distanced herself from politics since her father's departure from the White House in January 2021. Meanwhile, her last tweet on June 3 was a picture of her and her husband at the wedding of Jordan's Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah with Princess Rajwa al Hussein.

Political analyst and Dillard University professor Robert Collins told Newsweek on Sunday that Ivanka not specifically addressing her father's federal indictment could be "hurtful."

"In any criminal case involving a politician, it's always helpful to the defendant if they can demonstrate support from family members. It improves their image, both with the voters and with potential jurors. So, the silence of Ivanka is hurtful," Collins said. "However, since Ivanka and her husband might be under investigation soon for their dealings with Saudi Arabia, I think they are more focused on making sure their own legal affairs [are] in order than they are with her father's legal issues."

Kushner's ties to Saudi Arabia were recently subject to renewed scrutiny after The Washington Post reported in February that it gave $2 billion to Kushner's Affinity Fund from a sovereign wealth fund that was chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Trump administration forged closer ties to the Middle Eastern country than previous administrations, oftentimes attracting criticism due to a myriad of controversies surrounding Saudi Arabia.

Last week during an appearance on MSNBC's The Katie Phang Show, Donald Trump's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen said the DOJ should probe Kushner's ties to Saudi Arabia.

"I think the DOJ should be, if they're not already, looking at the unholy relationship that exists between Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Bin Salman, and Jared Kushner," Cohen said, who for years served as the former president's personal attorney before turning on him.

Cohen added he was confident that federal investigators "will find a lot of information" by looking into the Trump administration's Saudi ties, suggesting that Trump could have "profited" from them, though he offered no evidence to back up that suggestion.

Meanwhile, both of Donald Trump's sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, have been vocal amid their father's growing legal woes. On the day before the former president was arraigned, Trump Jr. tweeted, "This indictment is just more evidence that there's one rule for Democrats and one rule for the rest of us."

On Tuesday, Eric also tweeted about his father's indictment and wrote, "After the embarrassing Durham report, and in light of the 3 years of hell they put us through with the fabricated Russia hoax, you would think they would stop these games."

Newsweek reached out to Donald Trump's 2024 campaign office via email for comment.

Update 6/18/2023, 3:22 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.