Ivanka Trump, formerly a senior adviser to the US President, was present in the White House when her father’s supporters were laying a siege at the Capitol on January 6 last year, trying to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory. Did she make any attempts to persuade Donald Trump to call off the “protests”? That’s the question before the House committee investigating the mob attack. It has requested Ivanka’s voluntary testimony.

Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the Select Committee investigating the facts and circumstances of the unseemly rioting at the seat of power, Thursday wrote to Ivanka an 11-page letter, seeking her testimony: https://january6th.house.gov/sites/democrats.january6th.house.gov/files/2022-1-20.BGT%20Letter%20to%20Ivanka%20Trump%20-%20Cover%20Letter%20and%20Enclosures_Redacted%202.pdf

The points on which the committee wants Ivanka to throw light are:

* On the morning of January 6, Trump spoke on phone with Vice President Mike Pence, pressuring him to reject Biden’s victory. General Keith Kellogg, then national security advisor to the vice president, was in the Oval office, and he testified before the committee. Ivanka too was present in the office when that telephonic conversation took place. What is her version of it? The letter also says, “The 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”: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60076895

* White House aides sought Ivanka’s intervention to urge her father to call off his supporters, according to the Committee. What did she do?

* Does Ivanka know anything about whether Trump planned to deploy the National Guard or block the deployment?

* Witnesses have told the panel that Ivanka is likely to have direct knowledge of Trump’s actions before, during and after the attack. Ivanka was in close proximity of the president that day. The panel wants to have her account of Trump’s words and deeds, “including whether the President took appropriate action regarding the continuing threats of violence.”

Ivanka’s spokesperson issued a statement on this request, saying she had not spoken at the rally that preceded the attack: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/jan-6-ivanka-trump/2022/01/20/7e542a6c-7a15-11ec-9102-d65488c31bb1_story.html Curiously, that’s not what the Committee is asking or investigating.) It’s not clear if she would testify.

Also see:

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/20/politics/ivanka-trump-january-6-committee/index.html

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ivanka-trump-ghosts-trumpland-as-investigators-turn-up-the-heat

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60076895