TESTIFY: Jared and Ivanka get subpoenas from Special Counsel Jack Smith
In a typical RICO investigation, the prosecution generally works from the bottom of a corrupt organization and makes its way to the top of the criminal apex. With the news reported by The New York Times today that Special Counsel Jack Smith has issued subpoenas for Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, the Justice Department investigations of Donald Trump have reached just one step away from the head of the Trump family.
Given the similar news in the past few weeks about Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and his former VP Mike Pence each receiving subpoenas from Smith, it seems like the next likely steps would be either a subpoena for the former president himself or perhaps a move directly to indictments.
The Special Counsel has been tasked with investigating both Trump’s role in the January 6th, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol and his illegal retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
Testimony from both Ivanka and Jared could prove quite informative in both areas of investigation.
However, just as Mike Pence has announced that he will fight the subpoena he received on grounds of executive privilege — a move that many legal experts seem to think is destined to fail — both Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are not expected to eagerly appear before the grand jury that Special Counsel Jack Smith has convened without a legal fight that will only delay the investigation further.
Neither of the couple has yet to officially comment on the latest reported subpoenas.
Both Ivanka and her husband did testify to the House Select Committee on January 6th, with Ivanka going so far as to say in her testimony that she accepted then-Attorney General William Barr’s assurances that there was no evidence of sufficient fraud in the 2020 presidential election to alter the outcome.
According to The New York Times:
“Ms. Trump was in the Oval Office on Jan. 6 as her father placed a late-morning call to Mr. Pence to pressure him to block or delay congressional certification of the Electoral College results documenting Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory. As president of the Senate, Mr. Pence, who rejected Mr. Trump’s demands, was to serve in a ceremonial role overseeing the process that day.”
Ivanka also accompanied her father to the Stop the Steal rally that immediately preceded the insurrection.
She and Jared — who had arrived back in Washington DC that day from a trip to the Middle East (where he presumably helped negotiate a multi-billion dollar investment in his financial management fund) — both reportedly attempted to get Donald Trump to get the rioters to stop their violence and concede the election to Biden.
Since then, Ivanka has announced that she would not be a part of her father’s 2024 campaign.
Despite the apparent progress that these two new subpoenas represent, the anticipated legal wranglings over the couple’s appearance mean only that the Special Counsel’s investigation is progressing, not that it is close to issuing any indictments.
Patience is the only option at this point.
Original reporting by Maggie Haberman and
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