The January 6 committee saw testimonies from key witnesses that appeared to be conflicting regarding the extent of Ivanka Trump’s efforts to convince her father to denounce the assault on the United States Capitol.
During the initial months of 2022, the panel corresponded with Ivanka Trump, requesting her voluntary cooperation with the investigators. Chair Bennie Thompson, a representative from Mississippi affiliated with the Democratic Party, expressed the intention of investigators to inquire about the conduct of former President Donald Trump during the course of the attack. The correspondence focused on the endeavors of White House personnel to get Trump to publicly denounce the escalating acts of violence.
The aforementioned correspondence mainly relied on testimonial evidence provided by Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who served as the national security advisor to former Vice President Mike Pence during the incident in question. According to the letter addressed to Ivanka Trump, Kellogg conveyed that the White House staff expressed a desire for the President to promptly undertake measures to suppress the ongoing turmoil. Additionally, Kellogg believed that Ivanka Trump may play a role in persuading President Trump to issue a statement with the objective of halting the acts of violence.
“The testimony also suggests that you agreed to talk to the President, but had to make multiple efforts to persuade President Trump to act,” the letter continues. Then it quotes from the transcript of Kellogg’s interview.
“And so presumably the first time she [Ivanka Trump] went in, it wasn’t sufficient or she wouldn’t have had to go back at least one more time, I assume. Is that correct?” the transcript reads, quoting the investigator who was interviewing Kellogg.
“Well, yes, ma’am,” Kellogg replies. “I think she went back there because Ivanka can be pretty tenacious.”
However, the select committee has been informed by two individuals acquainted with the testimony that other witnesses have provided varying accounts of that particular incident. According to sources, other witnesses, including the daughter of the previous president, have provided testimony indicating that Donald Trump posted a tweet expressing support for the Capitol Police shortly after she initially approached him and requested a statement regarding the attack.
He sent out that tweet at 2:38 p.m., saying, “Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement,” he wrote. “They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!”
Put differently, these witnesses claim that it took the president’s daughter a matter of minutes to persuade him to issue a statement in response to the violence.
Despite being a minor element in the grand scheme of the attack, legal experts have stated that it may have implications for Trump’s possible criminal exposure. Additionally, select committee investigators attempting to put together the definitive story of January 6 are concentrating a great deal of attention on the activities and efforts of the president’s closest advisors, including his daughter, who was also a senior White House official at the time.
According to a statement Kellogg’s attorney gave to POLITICO, the committee ought to accept Ivanka Trump’s account of what happened.
“I defer to Ivanka,” said Kellogg. “She was in with 45 one-on-one. Never saw the transcripts from the 6 January committee so cannot comment on what was in the write-up.”
The lawyer, John Coale, said Kellogg was referring to the transcripts of his and Ivanka Trump’s testimonies.
An Ivanka Trump representative did not reply to a request for comment, and a representative for the select committee declined to comment.
That said, there didn’t seem to be much of an impact on the turmoil from the initial message that Trump tweeted.
Additionally, it came under fire for telling citizens to “remain peaceful” while protestors assaulted law enforcement and broke into the Capitol. A paragraph the committee released stated that even President Trump Jr. thought that letter was insufficient on its own. “He must denounce this [crap] immediately. On January 6, 2021, he contacted then-chief of staff Mark Meadows, saying, “The Capitol Police tweet is not enough.”
The assault went on, and Trump’s team insisted that he say more. Ultimately, the president recorded a video message in the Rose Garden instructing the assailants to return home. He continued, “We adore you; you’re very special.”
However, select committee members have highlighted the importance of Ivanka Trump’s efforts to get her father to speak out against the attack first.
“We know his daughter — we have firsthand testimony — that his daughter Ivanka went in at least twice to ask him to please stop this violence,” Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the vice chair of the select committee, said in a January interview with ABC News, appearing to allude to Kellogg’s testimony.
Even if the inquiry only covers a small portion of what happened that day, it can be important legally. Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner stated in March on the Stephanie Miller Show that Trump’s refusal to heed his daughter’s pleas may be proof of a crime.
“That is a president in a very real way, waging war against the United States,” he said. “Even his own daughter couldn’t stop him. That is deeply incriminating information. Presumably, it’s been provided by Ivanka under oath to the J-6 committee, and if I were prosecuting the case, she would be one of the very early witnesses I called.”
Kirschner stated that the committee might be setting up perjury traps for a number of its witnesses after examining POLITICO’s recent reporting.
Rephrased from: The Republic Brief By: Trump Knows
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