It’s probably fair to say Ivanka Trump isn’t having a great week. After all, it was just a couple of days ago when New York Attorney General Letitia James disclosed striking new allegations against the Trump Organization, accusing it in court documents of having committed fraud and engaged in “pervasive” deceptions.
The accusations stemmed from an ongoing investigation in which the state attorney general’s office is seeking sworn testimony from the former president’s adult daughter.
Today, as NBC News reported, Ivanka Trump’s week seemed to get a little worse.
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol has invited Ivanka Trump to give voluntary testimony. In a letter sent Thursday to former President Donald Trump’s eldest daughter, who served as a top White House adviser, the committee’s chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said it was seeking information about her communications with the White House surrounding the attack.
It’s a notable development, though it isn’t necessarily a surprise. Just two weeks ago, Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, the co-chair of the bipartisan select committee, said the panel has evidence that Ivanka Trump “at least twice” asked her father to help stop this violence during the Jan. 6 attack.
The committee added today that it also has evidence that she was in “direct contact” with the then-president on Jan. 6, which leads investigators to believe she may have “direct knowledge” of Donald Trump’s efforts, including his campaign to block certification of his 2020 defeat.
A spokesperson for Ivanka Trump told NBC News that she “did not speak” at the pre-riot rally. That’s true, but it’s also irrelevant: No one has suggested that she appeared at the event.
The spokesperson added, “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.’” That’s also true, but it’s also irrelevant to the matter at hand. What’s more, the tweet she published at 3:15 p.m. on Jan. 6 appeared to refer to the rioters as “patriots,” and was soon after deleted. At least for now, Ivanka Trump doesn’t appear to have ruled out the possibility of cooperating with the congressional investigation, though she hasn’t accepted the invitation for voluntarily testimony, either. Given her role as a key witness, if she were to formally decline, the prospect of a subpoena would loom large. As for the larger context, a New York Times report added, “The summoning of Ms. Trump suggested that the committee was delving deeper into the question of what Mr. Trump was doing and saying as the attack unfolded, as it seeks to determine his intentions and state of mind during the assault. The letter also made clear that the panel has already uncovered substantial evidence about those critical hours inside the White House from key players who were present that day.”
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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