The special counsel overseeing the inquiry into Donald Trump’s efforts to retain power after the 2020 election wants the former president’s daughter and son-in-law to testify to a grand jury.
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Ivanka Trump was in the Oval Office with her father as he called Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6, 2021.
Former President Donald J. Trump’s daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law Jared Kushner have been subpoenaed by the special counsel to testify before a federal grand jury about Mr. Trump’s efforts to stay in power after he lost the 2020 election and his role in a pro-Trump mob’s attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to two people briefed on the matter.
The decision by the special counsel, Jack Smith, to subpoena Ms. Trump and Mr. Kushner underscores how deeply into Mr. Trump’s inner circle Mr. Smith is reaching, and is the latest sign that no potential high-level witness is off limits.
The disclosure about the subpoena comes two weeks after it was revealed that Mr. Smith had subpoenaed former Vice President Mike Pence to testify before the grand jury. Mr. Pence plans to fight the subpoena, invoking his role as the president of the Senate to argue that it violates the “speech or debate” clause of the Constitution.
It is unclear whether Mr. Trump will seek to block Ms. Trump and Mr. Kushner from testifying on the grounds of executive privilege, as he has tried with some other witnesses. Both of them served as White House officials in the Trump administration. Mr. Trump declined to try to stop them from testifying before the House special committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack and what led to it.
An aide to Ms. Trump and Mr. Kushner did not respond to a request for comment. Josh Stueve, a spokesman for Mr. Smith, declined to comment.
Understand the Events on Jan. 6
- Timeline: On Jan. 6, 2021, 64 days after Election Day 2020, a mob of supporters of President Donald J. Trump raided the Capitol. Here is a close look at how the attack unfolded.
- A Day of Rage: Using thousands of videos and police radio communications, a Times investigation reconstructed in detail what happened — and why.
- Lost Lives: A bipartisan Senate report found that at least seven people died in connection with the attack.
- Jan. 6 Attendees: To many of those who attended the Trump rally but never breached the Capitol, that date wasn’t a dark day for the nation. It was a new start.
Ms. Trump was in the Oval Office on Jan. 6 as her father placed a late-morning call to Mr. Pence to pressure him to block or delay congressional certification of the Electoral College results documenting Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory. As president of the Senate, Mr. Pence, who rejected Mr. Trump’s demands, was to serve in a ceremonial role overseeing the process that day.
Ms. Trump also accompanied her father to the rally of his supporters at the Ellipse near the White House. Hundreds of his supporters moved from there to the Capitol, where they attacked the building, some chanting, “Hang Mike Pence!” for his refusal to do what Mr. Trump wished.
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Mr. Kushner returned from the Middle East that day, ultimately going to the White House after the pro-Trump mob had been rioting for hours. Both he and his wife were involved in efforts to get Mr. Trump to tell the rioters to go home, and then to commit to a peaceful transfer of power to Mr. Biden.
Both testified before the Jan. 6 House select committee, appearing for videotaped interviews in which both provided memories about the day. The committee, in turn, repeatedly played clips of their testimony at some of its public hearings.
One clip that got considerable attention showed Ms. Trump making clear that she accepted Attorney General William P. Barr’s declaration that there was no evidence of widespread fraud in the election, despite Mr. Trump’s repeated claims otherwise.
Mr. Trump was infuriated by the clips and what was said in them, according to people in contact with him.
Since then, Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump, who relocated with their three children to Florida after they left the White House, have maintained family contact with the former president. But while Mr. Kushner appeared at Mr. Trump’s campaign kickoff in November, Ms. Trump declined to and put out a statement saying she would not be involved in her father’s campaign this time.
Both were intimately involved in his 2016 race before going to work at the White House.
In December, Mr. Trump posted on his social media site, Truth Social, that he did not want them to be involved in his third campaign.
“Contrary to Fake News reporting, I never asked Jared or Ivanka to be part of the 2024 campaign for president and, in fact, specifically asked them not to do it,” Mr. Trump wrote, going on to say the campaign would be “too mean and nasty.”
“There has never been anything like this ‘ride’ before, and they should not be further subjected to it,” he added.
Source: nytimes.com
