Los Angeles native Kaia Gerber didn’t let the fact that Donald Trump ordered a U.S. military-assisted crackdown on immigrants and protesters in her hometown stop her from partying with First Daughter Ivanka Trump at an A-list party in New York City Thursday night.
The model and actor joined her famous parents Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber at a 40th birthday bash that Ivanka Trump’s sister-in-law, supermodel Karlie Kloss, threw for Joshua Kushner, the brother of Ivanka’s husband, Jared Kushner, the Daily Mail and TMZ reported.
Gerber at least got to don a “flirty,” red polka-dotted dress to the party at the famed Katz’s Deli on the Lower East Side, as Glamour said. She also was spotted earlier in the evening wearing the retro-feminine dress to the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of the film, “Gonzo Girl,” directed by Patricia Arquette.
From left, Eric Trump, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., arrive before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Pool Photo via AP)
So, Gerber got her fashion photo op — even though it meant being in the presence of Ivanka Trump, who can be just as controversial as her father.
The timing could be potentially problematic for Gerber, who has often spoken fondly of growing up in Malibu. After all, she, her parents and other A-listers, such as the musician Diplo and acclaimed fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg, schmoozed with Ivanka Trump as Los Angeles and other cities across the United States prepare for mass “No Kings” protests Saturday.
Demonstrators oppose president’s deployment of U.S. troops on U.S. soil — an act that is seen by Trump critics as a stark move towards authoritarianism. They also want to provide a counter the “Soviet-style” military parade — with tanks and rocket launchers — that Trump is staging through the streets of Washington D.C. on Saturday.
After Ivanka Trump and her husband served as White House senior advisers during Trump’s first term, the mother of three insisted that she would take a step back from politics in her father’s second term. But reports chronicle the various ways that the couple have continued to be involved in Trump administration policies behind-the-scenes.
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 20: Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump at the Liberty Inaugural Ball on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. President DonaldTrump attends some of the inaugural balls after taking the oath as the 47th president. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, of course, stood with the rest of the Trump family as he declared victory on election night and when he was inaugurated in January, surrounded by such billionaire tech moguls as Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Ivanka Trump also delighted in getting her own fashion photo op and “princess moment” at one of Trump’s inaugural balls. She made headlines for donning a recreation of the haute couture black-and-white gown that Hollywood icon Audrey Hepburn wore for the 1954 film “Sabrina.”
Meanwhile, CNN reported in May that Kushner, his father’s chief Middle East negotiator in his first term, was informally advising Trump on negotiations with leaders in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. Trump critics and former diplomats also have noted that Kushner has significant business interests in the region. After Trump lost the 2020 election, Kushner founded an investment firm which received billions of dollars in backing from sovereign wealth funds in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
It’s not known if Ivanka Trump and her husband have been advising Trump on his immigration policy. But Ivanka Trump faced backlash this past week for posting a “tone deaf” social media image to celebrate World Oceans Day. The photo showed her going to surf, amid her father’s deployment of military troops to Los Angeles, Surfer magazine reported.
On Ivanka Trump’s Instagram, people blasted her, saying she could instead have captioned her photo: “My father is bringing our country to the brink of Civil War, I’m going surfing! Lol!” Or, “I’m surfing while my father lights a match to our country.”
“Look everyone! She’s staying ON BRAND,” someone else said. “She’s still as vapid as ever while her father incites riots in the streets.”