Ivanka Trump in Talks To Cooperate With Jan. 6 Committee Despite Daddy

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Ivanka Trump has been involved in talks with the House committee investigating the Capitol riot about potentially providing information, according to a new report from The New York Times — although that report noted that it “was not immediately clear whether the negotiations, which aides described as preliminary, would result in Ms. Trump providing substantive information to the panel or whether they were simply a stalling tactic.” Ivanka, who served as a presidential adviser throughout her father’s presidential administration, is in a position to provide critical information to committee investigators. Panel chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) referenced in a letter to Ivanka that investigators wanted to know about what was going on in the White House as the Capitol violence unfolded.

Specifically, Ivanka was apparently the target of entreaties from individuals inside the then-president’s team, who wanted her help with cajoling Donald into saying something about the violence that day. Eventually, the then-president did speak out — and told rioters things like “we love you” and “you’re very special,” offering almost comically obvious but perhaps technically implicit words of support for the rioters’ actions. Later, Trump explicitly tried to excuse the violence, writing on Twitter that “these are the things and events that happen” when an election is stolen. The election wasn’t rigged, but the reality of the grave threats to democracy posed by Trump’s antics still remains. Apparently, Ivanka’s legal representation has been in touch with the riot panel since last month. Individuals acquainted with the former president’s daughter indicated to the Times that she didn’t intend to completely deny the committee’s requests, as longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon did before facing criminal charges for contempt of Congress.

A spokesperson for Ivanka confirmed that she “is in discussions with the committee to voluntarily appear for an interview.” Meanwhile, the committee is continuing its efforts to obtain information from other high-profile witnesses, including longtime Trump ally Rudy Giuliani, who “is considering providing information about his dealings with members of Congress,” according to the Times report. He is resistant to the notion of providing information about Trump on the basis of claims of attorney-client privilege, but details about the roles that Republican members of Congress had in what went on around the riot could allow for important revelations. The committee has previously asked for information from Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Scott Perry (R-Pa.), and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) — and all three refused to cooperate. Although the panel has issued numerous other subpoenas, subpoenas for testimony from those three Republicans and Ivanka haven’t gone out; investigators merely formally requested cooperation.