CNN Exclusive: Ivanka Trump talked to January 6 committee about what was
In a recent exclusive interview with CNN, committee Chairman Bennie Thompson gave the most extensive account yet of the testimony behind closed doors.
“There were questions asked about what was she doing at the time that the insurrection was occurring at the Capitol, and she told us,” the Mississippi Democrat said of Ivanka Trump. Investigators “asked certain questions about her awareness of what her father was doing. She told us.”
While Thompson was careful to point out that Donald Trump’s daughter and son-in-law Jared Kushner did not give away any “trade secrets,” and that their testimony was not against Trump himself, he said the couple did corroborate critical testimony from others who said the then-President was reluctant to try to call off the rioters despite being asked to do so.
“They kinda supported the fact that the President was told he had to do something to stop the January 6 insurrection. That he had to be public with it; he had to be direct,” Thompson said. “So in that respect … we have been able to systematically, with our depositions and interviewing of other witnesses, we’ve been able to fill in a lot of the gaps.”
Trump family members cooperate while some aides refuse
A person close to the Trump family told CNN the former President’s children never saw a reason not to cooperate with the committee because none of them felt appearing before the panel put them at any risk. They also perceived the committee’s decision not to subpoena them as a sign that they weren’t walking into a contentious situation.
This person also noted that Kushner was traveling in the Middle East on January 6, 2021, and got Covid-19 upon return, adding that he wasn’t involved in planning the “Stop the Steal” rally or in communication with some of the fringe figures who were counseling his father-in-law on ways to overturn the election.
A representative for Ivanka Trump and Kushner did not respond to a request for comment.
Thompson’s description of the importance of this family testimony reflects a curious evolving pattern of some top advisers to the former President refusing to share with the committee what they witnessed of Trump, while key family members — some of whom were also top White House aides — go ahead and talk to the committee.
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