Congressional panel asks Ivanka Trump to testify about Capitol riot

The panel investigating the 2021 US Capitol assault says Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka begged him to end the violence – and it wants to hear from her.

Ivanka Trump with her father at the White House in April 2020. Picture: AFP

The congressional panel investigating the 2021 US Capitol assault has asked Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka to co-operate with their inquiry, in an escalation of the panel’s attempts to seek testimony from the inner circle of the former president.

The house January 6 select committee told the 40-year-old businesswoman – then a senior adviser to her father – it had evidence that she had pleaded with him to call off the violence as his supporters stormed congress.

“Testimony obtained by the 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,” chairman Bennie Thompson wrote to her.

Investigators are looking into how the attack, which shut down congress as they were certifying the 2020 presidential election, took place and to what extent then-president Mr Trump and his aides had a part in encouraging it.

The committee has already spoken to about 400 witnesses and issued subpoenas for several key figures in Mr Trump’s orbit, including White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and one-time strategist Steve Bannon.

Ivanka Trump arrives to introduce her father, US President Donald Trump, in November 2020. Picture: AFP

The committee, which wants Ivanka Trump to sit for a voluntary deposition, is treating her ­actions as the riot was under way as a “key focus” of the probe.

She appears to have direct knowledge of her father’s attempt to persuade then-vice president Mike Pence to stop the counting of electoral votes, it said.

“As January 6 approached, President Trump attempted on multiple occasions to persuade vice-president Pence to participate in his plan,” Mr Thompson wrote. “One of the president’s discussions with the vice-president occurred by phone on the morning of January 6. You were present in the Oval Office and observed at least one side of that telephone conversation.”

The panel said it was also seeking information from Ivanka Trump about concerns voiced by White House lawyers, legislators and Pence aides about her father’s plan “to obstruct or impede the counting of electoral votes”.

The eldest of the former president’s two daughters served as ­director of the White House Office of Economic Initiatives and Entrepreneurship. Her spokesman said that she had “just learned” of the committee’s request but did not indicate whether she would comply.

“As the committee already knows, Ivanka did not speak at the January 6 rally,” he said.

“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’.”

It comes as the US Supreme Court this week rejected Mr Trump’s bid to prevent records held by the National Archives from being given to investigators.

And on Tuesday, the committee issued subpoenas to former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani – a key figure in Mr Trump’s failed bid to overturn the election result – and three other allies of the ­defeated ex-president.

AFP