As the House committee investigating the Capitol riot prepared for its first hearing this week, the editorial board at The Washington Post called for that committee to issue subpoenas for the ex-president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner. The hope, the Post’s editorial board wrote, would be to get Ivanka and Jared to explain what they know about what was going on at the White House preceding, during, and immediately following the Capitol violence. Notably, the Post also called for subpoenaing Mark Meadows — who served as chief of staff in the Trump White House, along with “other White House aides with useful information.”
As the Post put it:
‘[There] is much for the select committee to uncover. Top of the list is precisely what then-President Donald Trump did before, during and after the attack. How did he prepare his speech preceding the insurrection, in which he told the crowd to fight? What did he anticipate his audience’s reaction would be? When did he know the pro-Trump mob was threatening the Capitol? Why did he offer only mild statements long after the danger was clear? Did Trump-affiliated rally organizers coordinate with extremist groups?’
“Answering such questions,” the article adds, “calls for subpoenaing former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows; Mr. Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner; and other White House aides with useful information.” The paper also backed subpoenas for members of Congress, like Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who interacted with the Trump administration at some point around the events of January 6. Read the full article from the Washington Post editorial board at this link.
It’s not yet clear who that the House’s riot investigation committee might end up subpoenaing, although chairperson Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) recently said that the first round of subpoenas from the panel should emerge “soon.” The committee’s first hearing has now already passed, having featured testimony from four local police officers who participated in the defense of the Capitol on January 6. Each of these officers endured the devastating violence that the Trump supporters who were there that day perpetrated against law enforcement personnel. After remaining relatively quiet as much of the violence unfolded, Trump eventually took to Twitter to explicitly justify what took place, writing that “these are the things and events that happen” when an election is stolen (although such a theft of an election obviously did not actually take place).
