According to recent reporting, Donald Trumpโs own eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, officially testified before the January 6th House Select Committee that is not only investigating the infamous Capitol attack itself, but also her fatherโs specific role in inciting it. Reports claim that Ivanka ultimately spent about 8 hours in total answering the panelโs questions regarding the insurrection.
Ivankaโs testimony came on the heels of her husbandโs appearance before the panel, which many legal experts and analyzers rightfully believed would serve as the necessary push to finally get Ivanka in front of the committee herself.
Now, MSNBCโs Chief Legal Correspondent Melber has explained how Ivankaโs cooperation will only serve to put increased pressure on the rest of Donald Trumpโs inner circle, and it lays to waste the mere notion of executive privilege for many of them.
Reports have indicated that Ivanka did not once attempt to claim executive privilege nor exercise her Fifth Amendment rights during her 8-hour testimony to the House panel. Melber says this highlights the very real probability that Ivankaโs willingness and cooperation compared to that of Trump advisors such as Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro means these key Trump insiders are very likely far more worried about their own potential criminal exposure than Ivanka is.
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
โHer voluntary testimony puts pressure on anyone else stonewalling the committee,โ Melber explained. โThatโs the big point you donโt need to be a lawyer or expert on to understand, this committee has basically secured the cooperation of the vast majority of people it has summoned, including a lot of people in and around Trump world. We spoke with one just last week, you may recall if you watched โThe Beat,โ one of the rally organizers. She cooperated. Jared Kushner recently cooperated, Ivanka Trump cooperating.โ
โIf anyone has any potentially valid claim to some White House executive privilege, it would be people like Ivanka and Jared [Kushner],โ the networkโs Chief Legal Correspondent went on to note. โThey were White House aides to the end. Steve Bannon wasnโt. They were with Donald Trump those days in a way Steve Bannon wasnโt. What are they saying and doing? Theyโre saying, well, letโs just cooperate. Theyโre saying they donโt have any special privilege to shield them from cooperating. Whatโs Steve Bannon doing? Testing this for some other reasons only he knows.โ
Melber openly questioned why people like Bannon and Navarro are very seriously running the risk of criminal prosecution for Contempt of Congress in an effort to avoid testifying to the Committee when both Donald Trumpโs own daughter and son-in-law were willing to do so voluntarily.
โWhatever the reason is, because Iโm not here to speculate, I could tell you, according to Trumpโs daughter what the reason isnโt,โ Ari opined. โIt ainโt executive privilege.โ
You can watch the clip of Ariโs MSNBC analysis here:
Featured image via Flickr/Trump White House Archives
