Ivanka Trump testified for around eight hours Tuesday to the select House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot that began after her father, former President Donald Trump, spent weeks falsely claiming he was being deprived of a second White House term because of widespread ballot fraud.
Ivanka’s testimony, which was conducted via a remote video hookup, ended around 6 p.m. ET.
“She’s answering questions,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the committee’s chairman, earlier about Ivanka, who served as senior White House advisor during her father’s presidency. She was in the West Wing on the day of the riot.
“I mean, you know, not in broad, chatty terms, but she’s answering questions,” Thompson told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Ivanka Trump testified five days after her husband Jared Kushner himself answered questions from the committee for more than six hours.
Kushner also was a senior advisor in the Trump White House and is the only other family relative to have testified before the committee other than his wife.
The panel is investigating not only the riot by Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, but also then-President Trump’s actions related to the counting of certified electoral votes by Congress that day, which was to confirm the election of President Joe Biden.
Thompson noted that the committee didn’t have to issue a subpoena to Ivanka Trump, as it has had to do for a number of other Trump White House veterans and other allies of the former president, some of whom have refused to testify.
“She came in on her own. That has obviously significant value,” Thompson said.
Asked by reporters if Ivanka Trump had provided “any new information … new insights” in her testimony, Thompson quipped in reply: “Good try.”
The committee in January sent Ivanka a letter that said the panel had evidence that she was “in direct contact” with her father on Jan. 6.
“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,” that letter said.
