‘My family’s been through hell’

Former President Donald Trump on Monday declared that being commander-in-chief is “too painful for the family” and therefore his daughter and son-in-law will not have roles in a possible future presidential administration. 

Trump, 77, was asked by Fox News host Bret Baier if he would want Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner by his side again in the West Wing if he were to win the 2024 presidential election, to which the former president responded, “No.” 

“I said, that’s enough for the family. You know why? It’s too painful for the family,” Trump told Baier of the conversations he’s had with his children upon embarking on his third presidential campaign. 

“My family’s been through hell. I mean, they have – Eric, my son, who’s a fine boy. You know him very well. He’s a fine young man, good student, good everything, comes in. We’re doing beautifully. Then I decide to run for president. I mean, I don’t think anybody in the world in history has ever had more subpoenas sent to him,” the 2024 GOP presidential front-runner claimed.  

“Nobody has been through what my family has been through. Ivanka had a really successful line of clothing, I mean, making a fortune. When I did this, she was really –  she closed it up. She sort of felt she had to, but she closed it up,” Trump said of his 41-year-old daughter’s decision to shut down her namesake clothing brand in July 2018 while she worked as a White House adviser. 

Ivanka Trump announced in November 2022 that she would play no part in her father’s 2024 presidential campaign, and she skipped the former president’s campaign launch at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

“I love my father very much. This time around, I am choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family. I do not plan to be involved in politics,” the former first daughter said in a statement.

“While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena,” she added. “I am grateful to have had the honor of serving the American people and I will always be proud of many of our administration’s accomplishments.”

Kushner, who also advised Trump in the White House, has also reportedly shown no interest in a return to Washington, D.C.

Per a New York magazine report in December, since Trump’s Nov. 22 dinner with anti-Semitic rapper Kanye West and white nationalist Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago became public, Kushner has told people, “Look, I’m out. I’m really out,” the outlet quoted a source as saying.