Chelsea Clinton rejected claims in Jared Kushner’s book that Ivanka Trump invited her to a dinner with Donald Trump, bashing the 45th president’s daughter and confirming that the two are no longer friends.
The daughters of the two political rivals were once unexpectedly close friends, but Clinton confirmed in an appearance on Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live that the two haven’t spoken since 2016, the Daily Mail reported. She denied claims in Kushner’s book that Ivanka Trump and the former president attempted to set up a dinner between the two families to mend relations, saying she reached out but never invited her to any dinner.
“I would say we were friends,” Clinton said when asked about the friendship. “She’s not the person I called when I was curious about something for my kids or if I was debating a life decision, but we were definitely friends. And then she went to the dark side.”
She previously claimed in a 2020 appearance on the program that the two were no longer friends.
“I have no interest in being friends with someone who is not only complicit but actively taking part in this administration’s everyday collision of cruelty and incompetence,” she said when asked about their friendship. “We were in touch at the beginning of the campaign, but it’s just really hard when there’s someone who’s actively embracing their candidate, whether it’s their father or not, who is trafficking in racism and sexism and anti-Semitism and Islamophobia and homophobia and transphobia and conspiracy theories and lies and is so fundamentally corrupt.”
Clinton stressed how close she was with Ivanka Trump in 2016.
“Ivanka and I talk about everything,” she told Entertainment Tonight in 2016. “I’m so grateful she’s my friend. I think she’s a great woman, and I support her as I support all my friends.”
“I still consider her a very close friend, and she considers me as well. We have a great relationship,” she added in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar in August of that year.
The unlikely friends were once seen by many as proof that political polarization could be overcome. Ivanka Trump has not commented on her relationship with Clinton since 2016.
Reporting by The Washington Examiner.
