Ivanka Trump tours Holocaust museum as President Trump considers visit

Ivanka Trump steps off Air Force One with her son Theodore upon arrival in West Palm Beach, Florida, on March 3, 2017. PHOTO: AFP
A woman lights a Memorial Candle during an International Holocaust Remembrance Day Commemoration at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, on Jan 27, 2017. PHOTO: AFP

WASHINGTON (BLOOMBERG) - Ivanka Trump took a private tour of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum this week without her father, who is considering his own visit.

President Donald Trump, who has faced criticism for failing to promptly condemn a proliferation of anti-Semitic acts in the US, has expressed an interest in touring the Washington museum, but has not yet scheduled a date, two White House aides said.

Ivanka Trump took a tour on Monday morning (Feb 27), a person familiar with her visit said. The person requested anonymity because the tour wasn't announced publicly.

The president was attending meetings with health insurance CEOs and governors that morning. Spokespersons for the first daughter didn't respond to e-mails seeking comment from her.

She was accompanied by her parents-in-law, Charles and Seryl Kushner. Her husband Jared Kushner's late grandmother, Rae Kushner, was a Holocaust survivor who helped found the Holocaust Museum. She shared recollections of her experience in an oral history.

Donald Trump has faced criticism for not more forcefully rejecting racists who backed his presidential campaign, for not including the word "Jewish" in a statement commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan 27, and for not immediately condemning a recent spate of attacks and threats on Jewish institutions.

He has recently been more assertive, declaring in his speech to Congress on Tuesday that "we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all of its very ugly forms."

He said on Feb 21 during a tour of the National Museum of African American History and Culture that anti-Semitic threats targeting the Jewish community "are horrible, and are painful."

He said he would "very soon" visit the Holocaust museum. "It is very important to me."

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