WASHINGTON – Ivanka Trump, daughter of former President Donald Trump and among those closest to him during the Capitol uprising, will testify before the commission on Tuesday, January 6, according to three people familiar with the situation.
Trump’s daughter, who was with her father for most of the day, is expected to speak to the commission virtually, according to people who have been granted anonymity to discuss it.
Ivanka Trump is one of more than 800 witnesses the commission interviewed while working on a recording of the attack, the worst in the Capitol in more than two centuries. She is the first of Trump’s children to be known to speak to the committee and one of her father’s closest people.
Her decision to co-operate is important to the committee, which has been trying to interview her since late January. This comes less than a week after her husband Jared Kushner testified before the nine-member commission in a virtual meeting that lasted more than six hours. Members of the commission said his testimony was helpful and hoped to further fill the gaps with its help.
Her testimony, as well as others before the committee, will be private. The panel is using the interviews to compile a comprehensive report and will begin publishing information in the coming months as it holds public hearings and launches a series of reports on the uprising.
Lawmakers say they want to discuss what Ivanka Trump knew about her father’s efforts, including a phone call she said witnessed to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory as part of his ceremonial role of observing the election count. Pence rejected the effort.
The commission is also interested in any concerns it may have heard from Pence officials, members of Congress and the White House attorney’s office about Trump’s pressure on Pence.
Ivanka Trump’s co-operation contrasts with some of her father’s other senior advisers, some of whom have refused to co-operate as the former president struggles with the investigation. Trump tried to exercise executive privilege over documents and interviews, but in many cases it was overturned by the courts or Biden, who has that power as incumbent president.
The House is expected to vote this week to recommend allegations of contempt of Trump advisers Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino, whom the commission says did not cooperate. Earlier, the committee voted to recommend allegations of contempt of Trump’s longtime ally Steve Bannon, who opposed the congressional call, and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who stopped cooperating with the committee.
Bannon was later indicted by a federal grand jury and is awaiting prosecution by the Department of Justice. The Ministry of Justice has not taken any action against Meadows.
Other witnesses who are still close to the former president – and several who were in the White House that day – declined to answer questions from the committee.
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