By Billy House
Apr 5, 2022, 5:10 PM – Updated on Apr 6, 2022, 2:38 AM
Word Count: 276
Representative Bennie Thompson, the Mississippi Democrat who chairs the committee, told reporters late Tuesday afternoon that “she’s answering questions.”
“I mean, not in a broad, chatty term, but she’s answering questions,” he added.
Ivanka Trump, who served as a senior White House adviser during her father’s presidency, testified virtually. She was not subpoenaed.
Her testimony follows last week’s interview by the committee of her husband, ex-White House adviser Jared Kushner. Kushner, who was traveling back to the U.S. from abroad when the riot began on Jan. 6, 2021, was questioned remotely for more than six hours by the committee.
Thompson declined to discuss specifics, but said her voluntary testimony has “obviously significant value.”
When asked if Ivanka Trump asserted executive privilege to avoid answering questions, Thompson said, “Not that I’m aware of.”
A spokesman for Ivanka Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Earlier: Kushner Gave Jan. 6 Panel ‘Valuable’ Information, Lawmaker Says
Thompson had previously written to Ivanka Trump requesting her voluntary cooperation “on a range of critical topics,” in a publicly released letter that pointed out other witness testimony placing her in the Oval Office during during some moments on Jan. 6 and the days leading up to it.
The panel sought to question her on conversations Donald Trump had on Jan. 6 with then-Vice President Mike Pence, and why quicker action wasn’t taken on to help stop the violence at the Capitol that day.
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If this was an insurrection, where were all the dead bodies? Where were the running battles in the streets with security forces? Where were any of the guns in this co-called gun-happy nation? Surely if this was a truly an attempt to displace the government they would have brought at least one firearm… surely?
No, from the footage I’ve seen and witness accounts I’ve read, it sounded more like a crowd of people peacefully protesting their rights which they perceived as being eroded. The fact that there is even a brouhaha about it over a year later means someone is actively trying to conflate this issue into something it is not, presumably to score some easy political points (through hatred and division). I thought the American legal system was made of sterner stuff and could resist political manipulation. I guess I was wrong.