First daughter Ivanka Trump reportedly held a meeting with Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards in January to find common ground between her father’s policies and the women’s health organization. Trump asked for a sit-down with Richards, a vocal advocate for Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign and herself a daughter of a politician—former Texas Gov. Ann Richards. “The purpose of the meeting, from Cecile’s point of view, was to make sure that Ivanka fully understood what Planned Parenthood does, how it is funded, and why it would be a terrible idea for Planned Parenthood to be removed from being able to see Medicaid patients,” said Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “The main thing that Cecile Richards was doing was explaining that the money doesn’t actually go to abortions—we get reimbursed the same way a hospital does. We were clearing up misinformation about how this works.” Laguens called the rendezvous “an explainer meeting,” noting Trump had an interest in learning “more about the facts of Planned Parenthood.” Since that meeting, however, their relationship has reportedly gone cold, and Richards has publicly criticized Trump for her “deafening” silence on her father’s policy choices. “Anyone who works in this White House is responsible for addressing why women are in the crosshairs of basically every single policy we’ve seen in this administration,” Richards recently said in New York City. Last week, Trump officially became a federal employee with security clearance in her father’s administration.
