Ivanka Trump’s New 8-Hour Testimony To The Jan. 6th Committee Likely Leaves Her Brutally Conflicted Between Saving Her Own Image And Protecting Her Dad: NBC Reporter

Talk about a tough spot.


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Ex-President Donald Trump’s own eldest and closest daughter, Ivanka Trump, has officially testified before the January 6th House Select Committee that is currently investigating not only the infamous Capitol attack but specifically her father’s potential role in inciting it. According to reports, Ivanka ultimately spent about 8 hours in total answering the panel’s questions regarding the attack.

Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson has already spoken out and confirmed that Ivanka’s virtual testimony was “not in broad, chatty terms, but she’s answering questions.”

Now, NBC News reporter Ryan Reilly is weighing in on how Ivanka is potentially balancing her efforts to save her own personal image and paint herself as a positive influence on her father on that fateful day, while still protecting her dad and dancing around the possibility of criminally implicating him.

“You know, I think it’s present to this broader theme that we saw throughout the Trump administration where Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner tried to make themselves out to be the reasonable people in the room,” Reilly stated, “and they kept saying that they were trying to push Trump in the right direction. It became a trope throughout the Trump administration. We saw this and every decision that from administration made that was unpopular with the broader masses or may have been unpopular in their circles. There was always the story that said, ‘Well, you know Ivanka was trying to push him in the right direction behind the scenes.’ So this sort of seems like an ongoing theme here because Jan. 6 is now this monumental event that is shaping the entire Trump presidency. I think it’s clear here and then she recognizes that. She has to be clear that, you know, she was a reasonable force in the room. She has to get the narrative out there or else is going to bring her entire brand down along with her father’s.”

The NBC reporter goes on to note that Ivanka also likely grappled with the conflict that she did not personally believe that the 2020 presidential election was actually stolen from her father, despite his unhinged claims and obsessions.

“It’s difficult to imagine that Ivanka Trump actually believes the things about the stolen election that her father believes,” Reilly said. “Just generationally, she’s younger, she’s more internet-savvy, she’s college-educated, she’s probably a lot less conservative than her father. So to imagine that we’re in a situation where she actually believe these lies that the president was spreading, which is what makes her testimony so important, because a critical thing here is whether or not Donald Trump actually believes the lies that he was telling about the stolen election. That’s really a critical component of this, especially for the Justice Department investigation, where that’s going to be a critical component to broader, to the broader investigation and criminal culpability ultimately,” Reilly said.

“If he actually believed the lies about the stolen election, that’s a lot different than just saying these things to try to make a splash and change direction of the election — basically, essentially, steal the election,” the NBC reporter added. “If he knew they were lies, that’s one thing. If you actually believe the lies, there’s another. That could determine the trajectory of the criminal side of this investigation.”

Good luck navigating that, sweetie.

You can watch Reilly’s analysis here:

Featured image via Flickr/White House Public Domain 

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