Ivanka Trump spends EIGHT HOURS testifying before Capitol riot committee: Chairman Bennie Thompson says ex-president’s daughter wasn’t ‘chatty’ but did not plead the Fifth Amendment in virtual grilling
Ivanka Trump testified on Tuesday to the House committee investigating the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol, wrapping at about 6 p.m. Eastern
She apparently did not invoke the Fifth Amendment or any other privilege, despite multiple former Trump officials doing so to block the committee
House investigators reportedly left at the end of the marathon day without comment, and no exact details from the ex-First Daughter's testimony are out
Her testimony comes one week after her husband Jared Kushner was grilled
Panel asked to speak to Ivanka in January about what she saw that day
Ivanka was at the rally on the National Mall her father, Donald Trump, spoke at before his supporters marched on the US Capitol last year
She and her husband served as senior advisers in the Trump White House
By ELIZABETH ELKIND, POLITICS REPORTER and EMILY GOODIN, SENIOR U.S POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
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Ivanka Trump reportedly spent eight hours on Tuesday fielding questions from the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the Capitol.
The panel's chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mass.), suggested the ex-senior White House adviser was being at least somewhat cooperative and 'answering questions.'
Her testimony wrapped around 6 p.m. Eastern time, sources told Reuters.
The former First Daughter spoke to the committee one week after her husband Jared Kushner spoke to the panel for six hours. She's the first of former President Donald Trump's children to testify in the investigation.
Like Kushner, her marathon grilling was conducted virtually.
A representative for Ivanka Trump did not respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.
'She's answering questions. I mean, you know, not in a broad, chatty term, but she's answering questions,' Thompson told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Asked if she was cooperating, Thompson said: 'Well she came in on her own, that has obviously significant value. We did not have to subpoena.'
The Trump real estate heiress, who is believed to have personally appealed to her father multiple times while the insurrection was taking place, did not invoke the Fifth Amendment for the duration of her testimony, the New York Times reported.
It's a stark contrast to other members of Trump's orbit whose claims to block committee include executive privilege, the Fifth Amendment and even fighting the House of Representatives in court.
Capitol riot committee Chair Rep. Bennie Thompson told reporters of Ivanka Trump's testimony, 'She's answering questions. I mean, you know, not in a broad, chatty term, but she's answering questions'
Also on Tuesday, the panel received 101 documents from the tranche that pro-Trump lawyer John Eastman had tried to withhold.
In January, the Capitol riot committee asked Ivanka Trump, who served as an adviser to Trump in the White House, to voluntarily testify about what she saw on January 6th.
Ivanka Trump attended the rally that the ex-president spoke at on the National Mall the morning of the riot and was reported to be in and out of the Oval Office as MAGA supporters stormed the Capitol.
She is said to have spent hours that day asking her father to speak out against the violence and have his supporters leave the Capitol.
Kushner, who served as a senior counselor to Donald Trump, spoke to the House panel last week.
He was the highest-ranking Trump advisor and the first family member to testify. He appeared in private by video link voluntarily and was not subpoenaed.
'We tried to cast as wide a net as possible to interview anybody who might have had information as to what occurred on January 6, and obviously, they are central to that, along with a lot of other people,' Thompson said of Ivanka and Jared testifying.
He noted the panel has done over 800 interviews with more to come.
Jared Kushner pictured in the White House. The former advisor was not in the country during the insurrection
Committee member Rep. Elaine Luria told MSNBC after Kushner's appearance that he 'was able to voluntarily provide information to us, to verify and substantiate his own take' on the election.
'It was really valuable to have the opportunity to speak to him,' she said.
Thompson told the Times of Kushner's testimony, 'There were some things revealed, but we’ll just share that a little later.'
Kushner was returning from Saudi Arabia on the day of January 6, 2021, and not in the White House.
He and Ivanka stepped back from politics after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election and moved to Florida with their children.
The former president has ordered other aides - including Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff; Dan Scavino Jr., a deputy chief of staff; and Stephen K. Bannon, an adviser - not to speak to investigators.
It would unlikely for Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner to take any steps that her father did not approve of as Ivanka and Donald Trump are extremely close.
Meadows and Bannon have been found in contempt of the House. The Justice Department is investigating Bannon and has yet to decide if it will do the same for Meadows.
The House will vote this week on whether to find Scavino in contempt.
Donald Trump blasted the panel after it requested to speak to Ivanka.
The panel also has requested to hear from Eric Trump, the former president's son who ran the business empire, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, an adviser to Trump's presidential campaign and the finance of his oldest son Don Jr.
'It's a very unfair situation for my children,' the former president told the Washington Examiner in January.
In its January letter to Ivanka, the House committee said they were seeking a voluntary interview about what she saw on January 6th, including Donald Trump's actions that day and his state of mind as his supporters stormed the Capitol.
They also wrote about Ivanka being present in the Oval Office on the morning of January 6th, when then-President Trump called Vice President Mike Pence to pressure him to try and hold up certification of the 2020 election.
'The Select Committee wishes to discuss the part of the conversation you observed between President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence on the morning of January 6th,' the panel wrote to her.
The committee noted General Keith Kellogg, the retired general who served as a national security adviser to Pence and was also in the Oval that day, told them after Trump's call to Pence, '[Ivanka Trump] turned to me and said 'Mike Pence is a good man.''
'Similarly, the 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.'
The panel also noted: 'The committee has information suggesting that President Trump's White House counsel may have concluded that the actions President Trump directed Vice President Pence to take would violate the Constitution or would be otherwise illegal.'
'Did you discuss those issues with any member of the White House Counsel's Office?'
They said they also wanted to speak with her about Donald Trump's response to the insurrection. They referenced a tweet Donald Trump sent at 2:24 that day where he said Pence 'didn't have the courage' to do what needed to be done.
'We are particularly interested in discussions inside the White House and with the President before and after his 2:24 p.m. tweet. Testimony obtained by the Select 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,' the panel wrote to Ivanka.
'Testimony obtained by the Select 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.'
And, they noted, that White House staff 'recognized that might be' the one person who could get Donald Trump to act.
The panel also noted Kellogg told them he had 'very strongly' recommended that Trump not do a live television statement on that day 'because press conferences get out of control and you want to control the message.'
'Apparently, certain White House staff believed that a live unscripted press appearance by the President in the midst of the Capitol Hill violence could have made the situation worse,' the panel noted.
President Trump ultimately filmed a video statement from the Rose Garden that was posted online. He reporatedly had to do multiple takes to get one staff would post.
'The Select Committee understands that multiple takes of the video were filmed but not utilized. Information in the Select possession suggests that the President failed in the initial clips to ask rioters to leave the Capitol. The Select Committee has sought copies of those unused clips from the National Archives,' the panel notes.
'You have knowledge bearing directly on the president's actions or inactions on January 6th and his state of mind as the violent attack occurred at the Capitol. The Select Committee would very much appreciate your voluntary cooperation with its investigation on these matters,' the panel wrote to Ivanka.
The committee also revealed its investigating whether or not President Trump ordered the National Guard to respond.
'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,' the panel wrote, saying they wanted to discuss that issue with her.
Finally, the panel said they wished to speak to Ivanka about efforts by White House staff and others - including Fox News host Sean Hannity - to have President Trump stop making statements claiming the election was 'stolen' from him.
They cite a text exchange between Hannity and then-press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who has already testified to the panel, where Hannity wrote to her: 'Key now. No more crazy people.'
'Yes, 100%,' McEnany wrote back.
'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,' the panel wrote to Ivanka.