Jan. 6 committee says Ivanka Trump was ‘not forthcoming’

Ivanka Trump, former senior adviser to Donald Trump, left, and former U.S. President Donald Trump is displayed on a screen during a meeting of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol in the Canon House Office Building on Capitol Hill on December 19, 2022 in Washington, DC.
Ivanka Trump, former senior adviser to Donald Trump, left, and former U.S. President Donald Trump is displayed on a screen during a meeting of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol in the Canon House Office Building on Capitol Hill on December 19, 2022 in Washington, DC. Photo credit Al Drago/Getty Images

Despite giving an eight hour testimony, the House Jan. 6 committee shared in its executive summary on Monday that Ivanka Trump was not entirely “forthcoming” with the panel.

The House select committee held its final hearing on Monday, during which it announced criminal referrals for former President Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump’s father.

The committee discussed its report during the hearing, in which they said she was “not as forthcoming as [other witnesses] about President Trump’s conduct.” The full report will not be released until Wednesday.

Clips of the former first daughter’s testimony were shown during a June hearing held by the committee. In one of the clips she said she believed there was no evidence of fraud in the 2020 election, despite her father’s continued insistence that there was.

Despite this, the committee does not think she shared her full recollection of what took place on Jan. 6, 2021, from her perspective.

The committee said that Ivanka Trump’s chief of staff, Julie Radford, seemed to have “a more specific recollection of Ivanka Trump’s actions and statements.”

One example involved Ivanka Trump refuting claims that she had attended the Stop the Steal rally because of her father’s erratic behavior. However, Radford said the then-first daughter was concerned about her father’s demeanor following a conversation she overheard him have with then-Vice President Mike Pence.

“[Ivanka] shared that he had called the Vice President a not – an expletive word. I think that bothered her,” Radford told the committee. “And I think she could tell, based on the conversations and what was going on in the office, that he was angry and upset, and people were providing misinformation. And she felt like she might be able to help calm the situation down, at least before he went on stage.”

Radford even claimed that Ivanka said Trump had called Pence “the ‘P’ word.”

Ivanka Trump again refused this, saying she did not recall Trump calling Pence anything specifically on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021.

During the final hearing the committee announced criminal referrals for Trump to the Justice Department for obstructing an official proceeding, defrauding the U.S., making false statements, and giving aid or comfort to an insurrection.

Alongside Trump were four congress members who were referred to the House’s Ethic Committee. Committee member Rep. Jaime Raskin (D-MD) announced the congressmen, saying that GOP leader Kevin McCarthy (CA) and Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and Scott Perry (R-PA), were referred after they refused to comply with subpoenas from the panel.

“Ours is not a system of justice where foot soldiers go to jail, and the masterminds and ringleaders get a free pass,” Raskin said while making the announcement.

The committee laid out how they came to the decision on what crimes they believed Trump committed.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) shared during the hearing that Trump attempted to abuse the Department of Justice and his power to remain in office, despite losing the election.

“It’s of the utmost importance that our Department of Justice operates as a fair and neutral body that enforces our federal laws without fear or without favor,” Kinzinger said. “It is this critical function that President Trump sought to corrupt, as he sought to use the Department to investigate and prosecute purported election fraud, and to help him convince the public that the election was stolen.”

This comes just two months after the former president announced that he would run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

While Ivanka Trump played a vital role in her father’s last campaign and presidency, she shared that she would not be working for him this time around.

“I love my father very much,” she said in a statement the same day Trump announced his campaign. “This time around, I am choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family.”

She went as far as to say that she has no plans to be “involved in politics” for the foreseeable future, despite her love for her father.

Featured Image Photo Credit: Al Drago/Getty Images