The Washington Post editorial board is calling for the Democrats’ January 6 select committee to subpoena Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner, and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, to testify on what they knew about the goings-on during the insurrection and when they knew it, Salon [1] reports.
“Top of the list is precisely what then-President Donald Trump did before, during, and after the attack,” the editors wrote [2] in a Tuesday op-ed. “How did he prepare his speech preceding the insurrection, in which he told the crowd to fight? What did he anticipate his audience’s reaction would be? When did he know the pro-Trump mob was threatening the Capitol?”
The editors also said they want to know if Trump-affiliated rally organizers collaborated with extremist groups and noted:
“Answering such questions calls for subpoenaing former White House Chief of Staff Meadows; Mr. Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner; and other White House aides with useful information.”
An upcoming book by Washington Post journalists Carol D. Leonnig and Philip Rucker reports [3] that Ivanka Trump repeatedly told her father to call off the violent riot but he ignored her.
“I’m going down to my dad. This has to stop,” Ivanka reportedly told her aides. The book also notes she spent “several hours walking back and forth” from the Oval Office, in hopes of defusing the situation.
In their op-ed, the editorial board also called for the committee to investigate a number of Trump allies in Congress, including Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) because each may have interacted with Trump on the day of the riot. McCarthy voted in favor of overturning the 2020 election and has been steadfast [4] in his opposition to the Democratic-backed committee since Day 1.
If the committee really is interested in bringing to light the full scope of this tragedy and who exactly was involved and how they were involved, let’s hope they follow the editorial board’s advice.