He has the right to defend his family: Sean Spicer backs the president after Trump tweets that Ivanka was treated 'so unfairly' by Nordstrom

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President Donald Trump lashed out at the retailer Nordstrom on Wednesday morning for dumping his daughter's clothing line. 

'My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by Nordstrom,' the president wrote. 'She is a great person – always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!' 

The tweet came at 10:51 a.m., 21 minutes after the president's daily intelligence briefing was to start, and was later retweeted by the official @POTUS White House account. 

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer defended President Trump's comment later in the day, saying that he was responding to 'an attack on his daughter.'

Spicer also implied that the Seattle-based retailer made the decision to drop Ivanka's line because they did not agree with President Trump's ban on immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations entering the country. 

But on Wednesday Nordstrom revealed in a statement to DailyMail.com that Ivanka was personally told about its decision in early January - weeks before the travel ban.

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President Donald Trump (left) came to the defense of his eldest daughter Ivanka Trump (right) whose clothing line was dropped by Nordstrom last week 

President Donald Trump lashed out this morning at Nordstrom for dumping his daughter Ivanka Trump's clothing and shoe line 

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer defended President Trump's comment during his daily briefing on Wednesday (above)

'To reiterate what we’ve already shared when asked, we made this decision based on performance,' read the statement. 'Over the past year, and particularly in the last half of 2016, sales of the brand have steadily declined to the point where it didn’t make good business sense for us to continue with the line for now.'

The statement went on to read: 'We've had a great relationship with the Ivanka Trump team. We’ve had open conversations with them over the past year to share what we've seen and Ivanka was personally informed of our decision in early January.' 

In his press conference today, Spicer went on to justify Trump's tweet. 'He has every right to stand up for his family and applaud their business activities, their success,' said Spicer. 

'So, look, when it comes to his family I think he's been very clear how proud he is of what they do and what they've accomplished. And for someone to take out their concern with his policies on a family member of his is just, is not acceptable. And the president has every right, as a father, to stand up for them.' 

Spicer was later asked how Ivanka could be targeted seeing as she made the decision to step down from her eponymous fashion company last month, just before moving to Washington DC.

'I think there's clearly a targeting of her brand, and it's her name still out there. So while she's not directly running the company, it's still her name on it,' said Spicer. 

'And there's clearly efforts that – to undermine that name based on her father's positions on particular policies, that he's taken.'

Spicer went on to state: 'This is a direct attack on his policies and her name. And so that – there's clearly an attempt for him to stand up for her, because she is being maligned, because they have a problem with his policies.'

He also stated that Trump was free at the time he sent the tweet this morning and not still in his intelligence briefing, which had begun 21 minutes earlier at 10:30am. 

The presidents of Nordstrom sent an email criticizing President Donald Trump's ban on immigrants from seven nations entering the United States just days before the retail giant announced they had dropped Ivanka's clothing line.

In the note, brothers Peter, Erik, and Blake Nordstrom told employees of the company that they would do all they could to help those who might be impacted by the ban while celebrating the many things the immigrant community have contributed to the retailer over the years.

The Nordstrom brothers also pointed out that the company was founded by an immigrants, their great grandfather John.

Two days later, the Seattle-based retailer announced that they would no longer be carrying Ivanka Trump's line of clothing, handbags, shoes and accessories.

A spokesperson for Nordstrom told Dailymail.com, 'We sent the email to our people to offer support and services if they were affected by the order. The decision to move away from the Ivanka Trump brand for the upcoming season was made as a result of the brand’s business performance over the past year. For us, the two decisions were not related.'

The retailer then further clarified by revealed they had informed Ivanka of the decision in early January  

Cheap: Clearance and sale items from Ivanka Trump's brand line of shoes and accessories are seen in a Manhattan Nordstrom Rack store in January (above)

Bargain bin: Ivanka shoes were being sold at Nordstrom Rack for close to 50 percent off, which seemed to confirm that sales were down

Nordstrom put out a statement last week explaining that these kinds of buying decisions get made all the time  and said 'performance' of Ivanka Trump's brand was the problem

The company previously released a statement explaining why they made the decision to drop Ivanka's line. 

'We've said all along we make buying decisions based on performance. We've got thousands of brands – more than 2,000 offered on the site alone,' a statement from the company read. 

'Reviewing their merit and making edits is part of the regular rhythm of business,' it continued. 'Each year we cut about 10 percent and refresh our assortment with about the same amount.' 

'In this case, based on the brand's performance we've decided not to buy it for this season,' the statement said. 

Not mentioned was the #GrabYourWallet boycott that may also have had a hand in Nordstrom's decision to cancel ordering any more of Ivanka Trump's line. 

The #GrabYourWallet campaign targets companies that do business with the Trump family, letting consumers know where not to take their dollars if they are against some of the statements President Trump has made about women in the past.

Additionally, it names companies whose board members donated to President Trump's campaign. 

The campaign was started in response to the now infamous 2005 Access Hollywood hot mic audio that was released back in October in which President Trump was caught bragging about sexually assaulting women and detailed his attempt to bed a married television personality. 

That has caused headaches for companies like L.L. Bean, which saw its name added to the boycott because one family member donated to a Trump-aligned political action committee. 

The chairman of the board begged off the boycott, saying the large Bean family doesn't hold a political stance. 

Its name remains on the list.  

The president tweeted his support for them as well.

'Thank you to Linda Bean of L.L.Bean for your great support and courage. People will support you even more now. Buy L.L.Bean,' Trump tweeted in January. 

So far, Nordstrom remains part of the boycott, as organizers say the retailer won't be let off the hook until all the existing Ivanka Trump products sell out.