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Ivanka Trump Booed at Women's Entrepreneurship International Summit, Asked Tougher Questions

Ivanka Trump attends the W20 conference in Berlin / Getty Images
April 25, 2017

First Daughter Ivanka Trump was booed during a "high-brow" international summit for women's entrepreneurship in Berlin, Germany on Tuesday.

In her first international trip as assistant to the president, Trump traveled to Berlin to sit on a panel at an international summit with guests including WirtschaftsWoche editor-in-chief Miriam Meckel, managing director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The first daughter was booed by the audience and asked tougher questions by Meckel, the moderator, about her role in the Trump administration, Politico reported.

"The German audience is not that familiar with the concept of a first daughter," Meckel said, before asking her first question. "I'd like to ask you, what is your role, and who are you representing, your father as president of the United States, the American people, or your business?"

"Certainly not the latter," Trump responded. "I'm rather unfamiliar with this role as well ... It has been a little under 100 days and it has just been a remarkable and incredible journey."

Trump also called herself a feminist during the panel.

"I'm striving to think about how best to empower women in the economy," she said. "I have no doubt that coming out of this trip I'll be more informed."

Trump also called her father, President Donald Trump, "a tremendous champion of supporting families and enabling them to thrive," and said she was proud of his "advocacy" for paid-leave policies.

Her comment was met with boos and hisses by the female-dominated audience, and the moderator seized the opportunity to have Trump comment on why the crowd reacted this way.

"You hear the reaction from the audience," Meckel said. "I need to address one more point–some attitudes toward women your father has displayed might leave one questioning whether he's such an empower-er for women."

Trump noted she has "heard the criticism from the media, that's been perpetuated," but said her father did not treat her different than her brothers when she was growing up.

"I grew up in a house where there was no barriers to what I could accomplish beyond my own perseverance and tenacity. That's not an easy thing to do, he provided that for us," she said.

Trump also praised her father for giving women important roles in his administration, saying that six out of the eight people who conduct the vetting and hiring process are women.