Many people have said they have been told that the documentary focuses on Trump’s legacy and will be a flattering image.
But 17 months later, this director, Alex Holder, was summoned by a House of Representatives committee to investigate the Capitol Hill Uprising of January 6, 2021, and handed over hours of his footage. This has made some in the former president’s orbit nervous, they told CNN, mainly because a few do not remember the full scope of their comments.
Holder’s lawyer denies that Trump was given editorial control over the final product.
“The Trump family did not ask for and was not given any editorial control over the series. On the contrary, Alex Holder said at the beginning that he would have full editorial control. “Trump also did not ask for any contractual right to control, or even review, so there is none,” Russell Smith said in a statement to CNN.
Holder’s “unprecedented” three-part documentaries about the 2020 election will be released on Discovery Plus, which is owned by CNN’s parent company, later this summer. The documentary includes unprecedented footage of the Trump family on the way to the election campaign and their reactions to the election result.
The children of the then president gave numerous interviews with the British director, who was there in the last weeks of Trump’s rule. Ivanka Trump did three interviews, her husband Jared Kushner was interviewed twice, and Eric Trump was interviewed twice, Holder told CNN. Donald Trump Jr. was interviewed once an hour, but the attempt for a second interview with him failed.
Several of the interviews, including with Ivanka Trump, were conducted after Trump lost the election, but because he was still challenging it. Most of Ivanka Trump’s interview focused on her relationship with her father, in addition to a public comment on the ongoing legal challenges surrounding the election. Trump Jr. sat with Holder about three weeks before the election, another source said.
There is now some concern among some figures about what was said in front of the camera, given that hours of footage have been transferred. A former associate downplayed the possibility of saying something related to the commission.
A person familiar with the matter said the interviews were arranged by Jason Greenblatt, Trump’s peace envoy to the Middle East, who left the administration in 2019 but remained in close contact with senior officials. Greenblatt did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
On Thursday morning, Holder testified in camera behind closed doors.
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