The House committee investigating the January 6th insurrection in the Capitol has asked Ivanka Trump to voluntarily come and speak with them about what she saw that day.
‘You will anticipate the committee inviting some people to come talk to us,’ Rep. Bennie Thompson told reporters on Capitol Hill on Thursday, adding, ‘not lawmakers right now — Ivanka Trump.’
It’s the second blow to Ivanka this week after New York’s attorney general went after the former first daughter for being given the option to buy a luxury NYC apartment from the Trump Organization for a third of the value listed on company financial statements.
Ivanka Trump served as an adviser to her father Donald Trump during his White House tenure. She, husband Jared Kushner and their three children moved to Miami after the Trump’s administration ended.
In its 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.
‘We propose meeting with you on February 3 or 4, 2022,’ the panel wrote to her on Thursday. ‘If you are unavailable on those dates, we can arrange a time during the week of February 7, 2022.’
Ivanka Trump did not say whether or not she would appear.
‘Ivanka Trump just learned that the January 6 Committee issued a public letter asking her to appear,’ a spokesperson for her told DailyMail.com. ‘As the Committee already knows, Ivanka did not speak at the January 6 rally. As she publicly stated that day at 3:15pm, “any security breach or disrespect to our law enforcement is unacceptable. The violence must stop immediately. Please be peaceful.”‘
The committee has not indicated its next steps if Ivanka Trump doesn’t appear. It does have the option of issuing of congressional subpoena.
The 11-page letter offered new details about the committee has learned about what happened in the White House on the day of the insurrection.
Ivanka is the latest member of the Trump family to be targeted by the panel. The committee has also sought logs of phone calls and text messages between the former president’s son Eric Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.
The chair of the House committee investigating January 6th said they will invite Ivanka Trump to come and speak with them
Ivanka Trump with her father Donald Trump at his rally outside the White House on January 6th
She was in the Oval Office on January 6th where she reportedly encouraged him to ask his supporters to stand down during their raid on the Capitol, where they tried to stop the official Electoral College certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
In its letter, the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol referred to 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.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (center), chair of the select committee investigating the January 6 attack, said the panel wants to hear from Ivanka Trump
Jared Kushner in Miami on Wednesday – Ivanka and Jared moved to Florida after the end of the Trump administration
Rep. Liz Cheney, the Republican vice chair of the panel, hinted to ABC News last month that Ivanka was on the list of people the panel wanted to speak with.
‘I think it’s also important for the American people to understand how dangerous Donald Trump was,’ Cheney said.
‘We know [House GOP] Leader [Kevin] McCarthy was pleading with him to do that. We know members of his family, we know his daughter,’ she continued. ‘We have firsthand testimony that his daughter Ivanka went in at least twice to ask him to please stop this violence.’
The House panel won a major victory on Wednesday evening, when the Supreme Court refused a request from Donald Trump to block the release of White House records concerning January 6th, basically rejecting the former president’s claim of executive privilge.
The request from the committee tops off a difficult week for Ivanka Trump.
A court document filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James says Ivanka Trump was given the option to buy a luxury NYC apartment from the Trump Organization for a third of the value listed on company financial statements.
Ivanka had an option to purchase the Park Avenue apartment for $8.5 million, according to the court order seeking testimony filed by the AG’s office, after leasing it on ‘extraordinarily favorable terms’.
But her father Donald Trump, on his Statement of Financial Condition over several years listed values of the apartment at between $20,820,000 and $25,000,000, according to the document.
The revelations about the lucrative perk for the president’s daughter comes in a sweeping court filing filed by the AG as she seeks to secure testimony and obtain further documentation in a probe of what the AG says in an extraordinary public statement are ‘fraudulent and misleading’ valuations of major business assets.
It all comes at time when the former president is positioning himself for a potential run to try to recapture the White House – while blasting the probe as a politically motivated witch hunt. It threatens to ensnare not only Trump and his top executives – some who have served his family for decades – but the adult children he relied on both at his business enterprise and while serving in the White House.
The same document reveals that her brother, Eric Trump, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 500 times over six hours of testimony – amid a parallel criminal investigation.
They are among the allegations of accounting tricks and unusual financial arrangements spelled out in court documents filed by James’ office seeking to compel testimony by the former president, Ivanka and Eric Trump in their civil investigation of Trump’s real estate and hospitality empire.
James’ office mentions the apartment in a filing that alleges the Trump Organization pumped up valuations when communicating with lenders, but provided low-ball estimates to tax authorities.
Ivanka Trump had an option to purchase a Park Avenue apartment leased to her by her father’s company for $8.5 million, according to the court order seeking testimony filed by the AG’s office. But the firm listed its value as high as $25 million in financial statements
Park Avenue Apartment with ‘extraordinarily favorable terms’
The AG argues the president’s daughter, who served as an unpaid White House aide when Trump was in office, should have to testify.
‘Given Ivanka Trump’s involvement in these and other matters, her testimony plainly bears a reasonable relation to the matters under investigation by OAG and must be compelled,’ according to the filing.
It states her ‘knowledge’ of the financial statements, and says Ivanka ‘also has relevant information regarding the valuation of assets contained therein. In particular, she was able to ask for and access financial summaries and projections covering properties or businesses in the Trump Organization portfolio.’
According to a Trump Organization website, the building is ‘idyllically situated near Central Park, world-renowned restaurants, shopping and some of Manhattan’s most prestigious schools’
Ivanka had an option to purchase the Park Avenue apartment for $8.5 million, according to the court order seeking testimony filed by the AG’s office, after leasing it on ‘extraordinarily favorable terms’. Ivanka is seen in the apartment with two of her kids
Ivanka’s father father Donald Trump, on his Statement of Financial Condition over several years listed values of the apartment at between $20,820,000 and $25,000,000, according to the document. Ivanka and Jared’s kids are seen in the apartment
The apartment had room enough for a Steinway baby grand. Ivanka was later given the option to buy a larger unit
Ivanka tweeted images from her apartment on Instagram
New court filings allege complex schemes to overstate the value of company holdings
The highlighted section of the document alleges Ivanka was given the option to purchase the property at a cheaper price
Ivanka paid ‘a monthly rental rate that was a mere fraction per square foot of what other penthouse tenants paid in the building,’ according to the filing.
She rented the apartment at Trump Park Avenue beginning in 2011, according to the filing.
The company’s 2011 and 2012 financial statements were at ‘approximately two and a half times as much as the option price, with no disclosure of the existence of the option.’ In 2013, it was valued at $25 million – ‘more than three times the option price, again, with no disclosure of the existence of the option.’
In 2015, Ivanka got an option to purchase a larger penthouse unit at in the same building for $14 million.
According to a Trump Organization web site, the building is ‘idyllically situated near Central Park, world-renowned restaurants, shopping and some of Manhattan’s most prestigious schools, houses over 120 luxury condominiums in one of the Upper East Side’s most coveted locations.’
‘Refitted with a world-class selection of Italian fixtures, polished hardwoods, and marble finishes, each detail of Trump Park Avenue is meticulously adorned with a sense of sophistication and classicism.’
The New York’s attorney general is seeking a court order to force Donald Trump and his two oldest children to testify in their fraud case, stating that she has ‘uncovered significant evidence’ of financial misconduct.
James has since March 2019 been looking into the tax affairs of the Trump Organization, after former Trump confidante Michael Cohen shed light on its business practices.
James is probing at whether the Trump Organization inflated the value of its assets in a bid to claim tax relief.
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