The Democratic-led House select committee looking into the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol is asking for Ivanka Trump’s “voluntary cooperation” with its investigation in a new letter.
In short—the walls are closing in on President Donald J. Trump’s former senior adviser and first daughter (who once referred to the mob of insurrectionists as “patriots” in a now-deleted tweet). The committee appears to be zeroing in on the 45th President’s closest circle for more details into their roles on the day of the Capitol attack.
The letter requesting the former first daughter’s assistance was issued by Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. and dated January 20, 2022 (which came a day after, as NPR reported, the committee had requested phone records from her brother Eric Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle, the fiancée of her elder brother Donald Trump Jr).
The letter contained new evidence that the panel uncovered related to her role on the day of the riot. This includes several attempts to make her father intervene in the attack and his efforts to undo and delegitimize President Biden’s election.
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“We respect your privacy, and our questions will be limited to issues relating to January 6th, the activities that contributed to or influenced events on January 6th, and your role in the White House during that period,” Thompson wrote.
The committee proposed a meeting date with Ivanka Trump for February 3rd or 4th, or during the week of February 7th, but apparently, as NPR writes, she “could not immediately be reached for comment.”
Also revealed in the letter, the panel is asking for Ms. Trump’s account of a phone conversation between her father and former Vice President Mike Pence on January 6th.
Pence’s former national security adviser, Keith Kellogg, was with the then-President (who was on the phone with the Vice President) and first daughter in the White House as the riot was occurring. Kellogg testified to the panel about how the former President said to Pence over the phone that he didn’t “have the courage to make a hard decision” and said Pence would “wimp out.” Kellogg said Ivanka Trump was present for her father’s end of the call and the panel is seeking more information.
"[T]he Select Committee would like to discuss any other conversations you may have witnessed or participated in regarding the President's plan to obstruct or impede the counting of electoral votes," Thompson wrote.
The committee also wants to know more about the former president's response to the Capitol riot. The committee has reports from several sources they previously interviewed indicating White House staff "requested your assistance on multiple occasions" to get then-President Trump to respond to the incident.
Members of the staff, the panel said, saw Ivanka Trump as the sole person who could make her "stubborn" father act against the riot. Ivanka Trump apparently made multiple attempts to convince her father to stop the attack, and he released a video asking the mob to leave the Capitol at 4:17 p.m. EST that day. The panel pointed out that this was about two hours since she asked her father to act.
"You have knowledge bearing directly on the President's actions or inaction on January 6th, and his state of mind as the violent attack occurred at the Capitol," Thompson wrote.
The committee also wants to learn how former President Trump ordered to deploy the National Guard to the Capitol and asked the former first daughter to share any information she might have.
One last important takeaway from the letter is that the committee revealed a new text exchange between Fox News personality Sean Hannity and then-White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany (this comes after they also revealed texts between Hannity and former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows).
The panel found that Hannity sent a text to McEnany detailing a five-part approach to conversing with former President Trump that included "no more stolen election talk." Hannity also wrote to McEnany that talk of Trump's impeachment and removal from office "are real" and "many people will quit."
McEnany texted Hannity back, "Love that. Thank you. That is the playbook. I will reinforce," within her response. She also texted that she agreed with a Hannity message that said "no more crazy people" should be near Trump.
"The Select Committee would like to discuss this effort after January 6th to persuade President Trump not to associate himself with certain people, and to avoid further discussion regarding election fraud allegations," Thompson wrote.
Whew! After taking all of that information in, let's just reiterate that Ivanka Trump's involvement in last year's attack on the Capitol will be a continuing point of interest for the select committee to investigate.
