Ivanka Trump rejected speculation that she and husband Jared Kushner, both White House senior advisers, were given any preferential treatment by her father upon receiving their security clearances.
In an ABC News interview released Friday, Trump told the network’s Abby Huntsman there were “absolutely not” any special considerations granted to her.
“There were anonymous leaks about there being issues, but the president had no involvement pertaining to my clearance or my husband’s clearance, zero,” she said.
Trump and Kushner previously held temporary clearances for more than a year and a half while waiting for background checks to wrap up. In May, top clearance was approved for Trump and Kushner’s was restored.
Trump told Huntsman the lengthy delay in the process was typical, and didn’t mean much.
“This isn’t new,” she said. “This was happening under the Obama administration, the Clinton administration.”
Meanwhile the clearances have been the target of criticism from Democrats, including House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) who has launched an investigation into the handling of classified information by President Donald Trump’s transition team and the White House.