Source: Politics
The White House said on Tuesday that it would not invoke executive privilege over the testimony of Jared Kushner or Ivanka Trump, as former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law is expected to voluntarily appear before the Jan. 6 select committee this week.
“The president has spoken to the fact that Jan. 6 was one of the darkest days in our country’s history and that we must have a full accounting of what happened to ensure that it never occurs again,” communications director Kate Bedingfield said during the daily press briefing. “And he’s been quite clear that they posed a unique threat to our democracy and that the constitutional protections of executive privilege should not be used to shield from Congress or the public information about an attack on the Constitution itself. So, as a result, the White House has decided not to assert executive privilege over the testimony of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.”
The White House’s move comes as the select committee looks to decipher Kushner’s role in the events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. While the former White House adviser didn’t play a visible role in supporting Trump’s efforts to subvert the election results, he often gave him advice on sensitive matters.
The Jan. 6 investigators have already revealed that they are interested in Ivanka Trump, the former president’s daughter and Kushner’s wife, whom senior White House aides viewed as a last-ditch resort to persuade her father to address Capitol rioters during the insurrection. She has been in communication with the panel and was asked to testify at the end of January.