Former president’s daughter summoned before congressional panel for ‘voluntary’ chat
Ivanka Trump has been called by the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack to answer questions regarding the events of the day on a voluntary basis, according to an 11-page letter she was sent on Thursday.
Noting that she was “present in the West Wing of the White House” at the time, the committee has sought her “voluntary cooperation” on “a range of critical topics,” including “four specific matters” the letter proceeded to outline.
The topics on which the committee hopes to question the younger Trump include “efforts by President Trump to impede the count of certified electoral votes,” the president’s response as demonstrators began entering (“storming,” in the letter’s words) the Capitol building, the question of whether or not Trump gave an order to deploy the National Guard or any other arm of the military or security services, and what his “activities and conduct” – including his “state of mind” – were like in the days following the riot, as well as efforts by his staff to keep him away from certain individuals and stop him from making certain statements.
The letter-writers, chaired by Representative Bennie Thompson (D-Missouri), specifically noted that White House staffers already interviewed by the committee believed Ivanka was the only person who might have been able to convince the “stubborn” president to tell the protesters to go home before further damage was done, and that Ivanka had indeed gone “back there” to try to reason with her father.The committee expressed hope of meeting with her “soon,” specifically February 3 or 4 or the following week, adding that “the American people deserve to understand all the relevant details.”
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Committee vice-chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) claimed earlier this month that the group had “firsthand testimony” that Ivanka had twice asked President Trump to intervene and “stop the violence” as he watched the chaos unfold on television. Indeed, the president did eventually ask the rioters to go home, though he did so via Twitter rather than directly.
