WASHINGTON (CN) — The House committee investigating the attempt by right-wing extremists to overthrow America's government asked Ivanka Trump on Thursday to consider making a voluntary appearance.
A former model who joined the family-owned Trump Organization as an executive vice president after getting her undergraduate degree in economics, Ivanka Trump served the administration of her father, former President Donald Trump, in a formal advisory role. A letter made public this morning calls the 40-year-old a critical witness to the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, during what had been a joint session of Congress to certify the results of her father's election loss in November.
The special House committee tasked with investigating the insurrection say Ivanka Trump not only had direct contact with President Trump on Jan. 6 but also has insight into his individual efforts to stop the election-certification ceremony.
“As Jan. 6 approached, President Trump attempted on multiple occasions to persuade Vice President Pence to participate in his plan. One of the president’s discussions with the Vice President occurred by phone on the morning of Jan. 6. You were present in the Oval Office and observed at least one side of that telephone conversation," Chairman of the Committee Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, wrote in a letter to Ivanka.
The committee also want Ivanka to talk about the actions she took as the attempted coup was occurring.
“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," Thompson wrote.
The call for Ivanka Trump to cooperate with the committee indicates the investigation's intent to home in on those who were closest to Donald Trump and parse out details about internal conversations between White House officials and the then-president.
Thompson signaled the committee has particular interest in why the president did not intervene as the attack raged on.
"The Committee is aware that certain White House staff devoted time during the violent riot to rebutting questions regarding whether the President was attempting to hold up deployment of the guard[.] …. But the Committee has identified no evidence that President Trump issued any order, or took any other action, to deploy the guard that day. Nor does it appear that President Trump made any calls at all to the Department of Justice or any other law enforcement agency to request deployment of their personnel to the Capitol,” Thompson wrote.
Earlier this week, the committee issued subpoenas demanding testimony from Rudy Giuliani and three other former members of Donald Trump's legal team who spread disinformation about the 2020 election.
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