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Ivanka Trump in talks to cooperate with Jan 6 investigation

Testimony from ex-president’s daughter would mark major advance for congressional inquiry

Josh Marcus
San Francisco
Wednesday 23 February 2022 22:07 GMT
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Ivanka Trump is in talks to cooperate with the congressional inquiry into the 6 January attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters.

The ex-president’s daughter’s attorneys have been communicating with the committee since January about a request to provide voluntary testimony, The New York Times reports.

“Ivanka Trump is in discussions with the committee to voluntarily appear for an interview,” a spokeswoman for Ms Trump confirmed to the paper in a statement on Wednesday.

During the Capitol insurrection, Ms Trump tried to persuade the outgoing president to call off his supporters, who would go on to injure numerous police officers in a riot that ultimately left five people dead.

It’s unclear what precisely this cooperation would entail. Any testimony or records from Ms Trump, who served as a senior White House adviser, would mark the highest-level source of information yet for the 6 January special committee.

No date has been set for any potential cooperation, and the committee hasn’t yet sent any subpoenas to Ms Trump, as it has to other major figures in the Trump orbit.

It has considered the possibility of an eventual subpoena, however, according to reporting from The Guardian, as the inquiry regards Ms Trump’s window into that day’s events as crucial.

“Testimony obtained by the committee indicates that members of the White House staff requested your assistance on multiple occasions to intervene in an attempt to persuade President Trump to address the ongoing lawlessness and violence on Capitol Hill,” read a letter the committee sent to Ms Trump earlier this year.

Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump (AFP via Getty Images)

The message also stated that Ms Trump had been present in the Oval Office during one of her father’s conversations with Mike Pence as he tried to pressure the then-vice president to throw out the results of the election.

Other top Trump figures have resisted cooperation with the committee’s inquiry, such as former adviser Steve Bannon, who was indicted for contempt of Congress rather than work with probe.

The former president has complained of the investigating targeting his children.

“It’s a very unfair situation for my children,” Mr. Trump told The Washington Examiner in January. “Very, very unfair.”

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