Donald Trump made the comment during an appearance with Ivanka Trump on "The View." He and Ivanka were smiling and laughing when he said it. Shortly after the clip aired, Donald Trump's spokesperson told journalists he was joking and "making fun of himself for his tendency to date younger women."
Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, a number of old comments by former U.S. President Donald Trump resurfaced, including one in which he allegedly said, "If Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her."
It was true that Trump made the remark during a 2006 appearance on "The View" talk show. Alleged video footage of the moment — a clip that shows 60-year-old Trump and 24-year-old Ivanka Trump sitting between hosts of "The View" — is authentic and appropriately captioned in social media posts.
In the clip, Donald and Ivanka Trump smiled and laughed as he said, "If Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her." Shortly after the clip aired, Donald Trump's spokesperson told journalists he was joking and "making fun of himself for his tendency to date younger women."
Critics of the former president shared the clip in summer 2024, after Vice President Kamala Harris announced her presidential bid. She and her allies made it part of her campaign to criticize Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, with one word — "weird". And, in the 2006 clip, a co-host on "The View" called him "weird" for making the in-question comment.
We analyzed footage via CNN and a longer YouTube clip. (When we asked ABC for a copy of the video from its archives, the network referred us to YouTube.) According to those sources, the interaction went like this:
'The View' co-host Star Jones: I'm afraid to ask this question, but what would you do if Playboy put Ivanka on the cover of the magazine.
Ivanka Trump: This is going to be an interesting answer.
Trump: It would be really disappointing — not really — but it would depend on what was inside the magazine.
[...]
'The View' co-host Joy Behar: That's this girl's right, people assume there will be n*de photos.
Trump: Right, you do assume [...]
'The View' co-host Meredith Vieira: But if there weren't you wouldn't have an issue with it?
Trump: I don't think Ivanka would do that inside the magazine, although she does have a very nice figure. I've said that if Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her.
[LAUGHTER]
Unidentified host [off-screen] : Stop it. That's so weird.
[CROSSTALK]
Unidentified host (off-screen): You know what, you are sick.
Behar: Stop it.
[CROSSTALK]
Trump: Is that terrible?
Vieira: You're known for saying outrageous things, Mr. Trump.
Behar : Who are you, Woody Allen?
Behar was referencing the famed director who controversially married Soon-Yi Previn, the daughter of his ex-partner Mia Farrow. Also, Allen was accused of sexual abuse by his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow in 1992.
The moment on "The View" happens at the 20-second mark of the CNN clip:
That said, in addition to the CNN footage, news reports from 2006 and "The View" co-host Joe Behar's recollection of the interview with the Trumps confirmed the claim's truth.
News reports from 2006 corroborated the transcription above — that is, that the former president made the comment about his daughter in response to a hypothetical question about her posing for Playboy magazine.
After the interview aired, a spokesperson for Donald Trump at the time, Jim Dowd, told The Associated Press he "was absolutely joking" with the comment about his daughter. "He was making fun of himself for his tendency to date younger women. It's a sense of humor that people don't see [from him] all the time."
Years later, in 2017, Behar recalled the moment with the Trumps during an appearance on "Late Night With Seth Meyers." She said Trump sometimes hated her, sometimes liked her, and, at least at the time of the 2017 interview, she was on his "bad list." Behar then said, "He came on ['The View' for the] first time with Ivanka. [...] He said, 'If she wasn't my daughter, you know, I'd date her. [...] And I said to him, 'Who are you, Woody Allen?'"
Behar added, "He laughed at that actually. He thought that was quite amusing."
Donald Trump's critics circulated the 2006 comment about Ivanka before 2024. We previously confirmed its legitimacy and noted his spokesperson's subsequent clarification about him supposedly "making fun of himself."
Also, we have addressed the unproven claim that Donald Trump once asked, "Is it wrong to be more sexually attracted to your own daughter than your wife?"
Sources:
"Donald Trump's Comments about Daughter Raise Eyebrows." CNN, 2016. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsOVVqubBus. " target="blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsOVVqubBus.">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsOVVqubBus. Accessed 2 Aug. 2024.
Evon, Dan. "Did Donald Trump Say He'd Like to Date His Daughter?" Snopes, 10 July 2015, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/donald-trump-date-daughter/. " target="blank">https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/donald-trump-date-daughter/.">https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/donald-trump-date-daughter/. Accessed 2 Aug. 2024.
Ibrahim, Nur. "Elon Musk Said X Users Who Use 'Weird' to Describe Trump Supporters 'Will Be Punished'?" Snopes, 31 July 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/elon-musk-x-weird-trump-punished/. " target="blank">https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/elon-musk-x-weird-trump-punished/.">https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/elon-musk-x-weird-trump-punished/. Accessed 2 Aug. 2024.
"Late Night With Seth Meyers : KNTV : June 28, 2017 12:37am-1:38am PDT." 28 June 2017. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/KNTV_20170628_073700_Late_Night_With_Seth_Meyers. " target="blank">http://archive.org/details/KNTV_20170628_073700_Late_Night_With_Seth_Meyers.">http://archive.org/details/KNTV_20170628_073700_Late_Night_With_Seth_Meyers. Accessed 2 Aug. 2024.
Liles, Jordan. "No Evidence Trump Once Asked If It's Wrong To Be More Attracted to Daughter Than Wife." Snopes, 18 July 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/trump-ivanka-attraction-remark/. " target="blank">https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/trump-ivanka-attraction-remark/.">https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/trump-ivanka-attraction-remark/. Accessed 2 Aug. 2024.
"Trump Jokes That He'd Date Daughter." TODAY.Com, 7 Mar. 2006, https://www.today.com/popculture/trump-jokes-he-d-date-daughter-wbna11714379. " target="blank">https://www.today.com/popculture/trump-jokes-he-d-date-daughter-wbna11714379.">https://www.today.com/popculture/trump-jokes-he-d-date-daughter-wbna11714379. Accessed 2 Aug. 2024.
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