Ivanka Trump Breaks Silence on Donald Trump Shooting as Her Words Spark Comparisons to Erika Kirk’s Response

Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt in July 2024. Since then, people close to him say he hasn’t been the same.

At the same time, his daughter, Ivanka Trump, has kept her distance from politics and her father’s administration for a long time.

She made that clear again before his 2025 inauguration and spoke openly about not wanting to be involved in politics. Now, almost two years later, she has shared what that moment felt like and how it affected her emotionally.

In an April 2026 episode of The Diary of a CEO, Ivanka said she watched the attack happen on TV almost as it was unfolding. She remembered seeing the shooting live at her father’s golf club in New Jersey.

Two of her children were with her at the time, and she had to focus on protecting them while also trying to understand what was happening.

She explained that before her father even got back up, she already knew something serious was going on. Her first instinct was to turn her children away from the screen. She said it was a very difficult moment to handle.

Ivanka and Jared Kushner have three children together: Arabella, Joseph, and Theodore.

Even though the situation was shocking, Ivanka said she didn’t completely panic because she felt deep down that it wasn’t her father’s time to die.

She admitted she was scared and horrified, especially as a mother trying to protect her kids, but she also believed the worst outcome hadn’t happened. She said she felt grateful that her father survived.

Later that night, she and Jared stayed awake waiting for Trump to return home from the hospital in Bedminster. She said she felt incredibly lucky that he made it through the day without serious harm. The experience made her think more about how important it is not to take life for granted.

She was also asked about how the incident affected her long-term, and her response was compared to the way Erika Kirk spoke about forgiveness after her husband’s death.

Ivanka admitted that forgiveness is not easy and that situations like this are complicated. She said she could have let the experience deeply traumatize her, but she chose to move forward instead.

While both women talk about forgiveness, their situations are very different. Trump survived, while Erika’s husband did not.

Ivanka watched the footage of the attack several times, but Erika chose not to watch what happened to her husband. Their reasons for forgiveness also come from different places. Erika’s is based on her faith, while Ivanka’s comes more from a sense of gratitude.

Even with those differences, they both share a similar belief about how to respond to violence. Erika once said that forgiveness can free a person from emotional pain and help them think more clearly.

Ivanka expressed a similar idea, saying that in life, you can’t control everything that happens, but you can choose how you respond and she chooses to focus on the positive outcome.