Update (Jan. 24, 2022): Three days after the Capitol riots House committee requested information from Ivanka Trump, a Georgia district attorney asked for a grand jury to investigate potential 2020 election interference. A judge approved the grand jury request, and the special grand jury will be seated May 2 for a period of up to a year.
“[The grand jury] shall be authorized to investigate any and all facts and circumstances relating directly or indirectly to alleged violations of the laws of the State of Georgia, as set forth in the request of the District Attorney,” the order says.
Original Story (Jan. 20, 2022): Investigations into last January’s Capitol riots, as well as alleged interference in the 2020 election, gained steam Thursday. The House committee investigating the riots announced it is requesting an interview with former President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka. The announcement marks the committee’s first public attempt to arrange an interview with a Trump family member.
“In a letter to Ms. Trump seeking a voluntary interview with the committee, Chairman Thompson underscored evidence obtained by the Select Committee that Ms. Trump was in direct contact with the former President at key moments on January 6th,” the committee said in its announcement. It cited testimony showing Ivanka Trump had implored her father to quell the violence on Jan. 6.
“The Select Committee is also seeking information from Ms. Trump about concerns in the office of the White House Counsel, from Members of Congress, and among the Vice President’s staff about plans to pressure Vice President Pence to overturn the election,” the committee said.
A spokesperson for Ivanka, who is also being compelled to testify in a New York investigation into the Trump Organization, responded to the announcement saying, “As the Committee already knows, Ivanka did not speak at the January 6 rally.”
As the Capitol riots committee pursues Ivanka, Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis sent a letter to the county’s superior court judge asking for a special grand jury to look into possible election interference in the state. In the letter, she wrote her office “has received information indicating a reasonable probability that the State of Georgia’s administration of elections in 2020, including the State’s election of the President of the United States, was subject to possible criminal disruptions.”
Willis has declined to speak about the specifics of the election interference investigation. However, in an interview with The Associated Press earlier this month, she confirmed that its scope includes:
- A Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between former President Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger
- A November 2020 phone call between Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Raffensperger
- The resignation of the top federal prosecutor in Atlanta on Jan. 4, 2021
- Comments made during December 2020 Georgia legislative committee hearings on the election
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