Ivanka Trump hears groans as she defends father

BERLIN — Ivanka Trump drew groans and hisses Tuesday from an audience in Berlin while defending her father’s attitude toward women, but she brushed it aside as “politics” during her first overseas trip as a White House adviser.

Appearing on a high-powered panel at a conference to push for more support for women in business, Trump also said she was still trying to define her place in her father’s administration.

“I am rather unfamiliar with this role as well, as it is quite new to me, it’s been a little under 100 days,” she said.

Trump has been a vocal advocate for policies benefiting working women and vocational training. But she also has faced criticism in the United States, particularly from those who think she has done little to temper her father’s conservative agenda.

Sharing a stage with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and others, Trump was asked by the moderator whom she was representing — President Trump, the American people, or her own business interests.

“Certainly not the latter,” Trump said,

As Trump described her father as “a tremendous champion of supporting families and enabling them to thrive,” she drew scattered groans and hisses from the audience, prompting moderator Miriam Meckel to press her for a response.

Trump replied: “I’ve certainly heard the criticism from the media, and that’s been perpetuated.” She added that “thousands” of women have worked with and for Trump for decades “are a testament to his belief and solid conviction in the potential of women and their ability to do the job as well as any man.”