Ivanka Trump spends hours speaking with Jan. 6 committee on Tuesday

"She's answering questions — not in broad chatty terms — but she's answering questions."

• By Claudia Grisales/NPR

Ivanka Trump appeared remotely before the Jan. 6 committee on Tuesday morning and spoke with members about the events surrounding the Capitol Hill insurrection into the afternoon, according to the committee chairman.

The daughter and onetime adviser to former President Donald Trump appeared less than a week after her husband Jared Kushner, whose testimony several members said was considered “helpful” to the committee.

Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., issued a letter in January seeking Ivanka Trump’s voluntary cooperation, after the committee had uncovered new evidence about her activities on the day of the siege, which included multiple attempts to get her father to intervene in the attack. She was the first Trump family member approached by the committee to voluntarily appear.

“She’s answering questions — not in broad chatty terms — but she’s answering questions,” Thompson told reporters Tuesday afternoon before entering the House chamber for votes.

Two sources familiar with the committee’s schedule, but not permitted to speak publicly on record, said Trump’s interview was slated to start at 10 a.m., meaning she likely met with House members for more than five hours.

Thompson also said that Trump had not asserted any privileges. The White House said last week that President Biden would not exert executive privilege over testimony from Trump or Kushner, preventing them from refusing to answer questions with claims of protecting the executive branch’s confidentiality.

The Trump and Kushner appearances are strong indications the committee is moving its investigation into the former president’s inner circle as it approaches the final stages of its probe. Thompson said the two high-profile witnesses were part of a group that were most frequently in former President Trump’s orbit.

According to the committee’s January letter, Ivanka Trump heard her father from the Oval Office in the morning of Jan. 6 trying to convince then-Vice President Mike Pence to break with his constitutional duties to fulfill a largely ceremonial role and reject the election’s results at the Senate that day. The panel has also obtained evidence from other witnesses showing White House staff had asked for her help to intervene and get her father to tell the rioters to go home.

Kushner, also a former White House senior adviser, appeared before the committee last Thursday for more than six hours. Although he wasn’t at the White House on Jan. 6, he still revealed some important details, according to Thompson.

“It’s helping us find the facts,” he said.

The committee is looking to slow down its current frantic pace of interviewing two to three witnesses day, so it can soon turn its attention to public hearings. Its goal is to issue an interim report this summer, and final report in the fall.

Committee members and staff have questioned more than 800 people, on top of compiling reams of documents. Notably, it has interviewed key advisers who surrounded Pence and who have provided critical information on what the former president did in the days and weeks leading up to the deadly attack on Congress.