On Thursday, the House Select Committee investigating the deadly failed insurrection of January 6 sent a letter to former President Donald Trump's eldest daughter and senior advisor, Ivanka Trump, asking her to voluntarily speak with the committee about his actions and dispositions that day.
More specifically, the Committee seeks Ms. Trump's answers about her father's conversations with then-Vice President Mike Pence, whom he was pressuring to throw out the electoral votes of swing states Trump lost, and about efforts from Trump officials urging her to sway her father to finally tell his extremist supporters to vacate the Capitol.
Ivanka Trump will almost certainly refuse to cooperate with the committee, as have various notable Trump associates whose testimony they've sought, but their letter to Ms. Trump isn't without its revelations.
It was reported late last year that far-right Fox News host Sean Hannity was texting the former President's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, as the riots unfolded, imploring him to intercede and convince Trump to stop the riots.
But newly-revealed texts in the letter reveal that Hannity also texted with Trump's press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, the day after the riots.
Hannity laid out a five stage proposal for Trump to finally relent in the smear campaign against the validity of the 2020 election—disinformation that incited the riots in the first place.
Hannity texted:
"1-No more stolen election talk
2-Yes, impeachment and 25 th amendment are real, and many people will quit..."
McEnany responded:
"Love that. Thank you. That is the playbook. I will help reinforce..."
The far-right host also urged McEnany not to let Trump around any more "crazy people," to which she agreed.
But McEnany herself eagerly amplified Trump's election lies from the White House podium and in her personal capacity.
At a news conference with RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel following Trump's election defeat, McEnany said:
“You don’t oppose an audit of the vote because you want an accurate count. … You take these positions because you are welcoming fraud and you are welcoming illegal voting.”
On the day after the riots—the same day she conversed with Hannity through texts—McEnany gave a two minute speech to the White House press pool condemning violence, but she took no questions.
The new round of texts led to backlash for both Hannity and McEnany.
So either @kayleighmcenany is lying about her own beliefs every time she opens her yap about the stolen election -- or she really thinks it was stolen but doesn't think stolen elections are a big deal. https://t.co/oW7wufqa8V
— Alternative Fax (@daveblend) January 20, 2022
Nothing to see here...just a TV talk show host advising the former TV game show host in the White House what to do after the insurrection. https://t.co/MsTO612Fx5
— James H. Lane (@Grim_Chieftan) January 20, 2022
Funny the propaganda secretary tells Hannity she loved the idea of ending the Big Lie, yet never stopped. But then again, neither did Hannity. #Traitors @kayleighmcenany @seanhannity https://t.co/UN6v8nCnRO
— Michelle (@vanonnax4) January 20, 2022
Trumps press secretary was taking direction from a FoxNews host to do damage control on the insurrection.
Only surprise here is there was no smiley face emoji in the text https://t.co/tNabzSPgdY
— Mike Madrid (@madrid_mike) January 20, 2022
The Trump White House treated Fox News as part of its communications and policy teams, without any of the oversight federal employees usually have. Fox News enthusiastically went along with this. https://t.co/76PTYL0rNp
— Seth Masket (@smotus) January 20, 2022
This is remarkable. The president of the United States was being handled by a lunatic talk show host and a professional liar with nothing in her binders. We should be terrified of how close we came. https://t.co/TfEQXwAkfT
— Krazy Katbot 🐈⬛🤖 (@KrazyKatbot) January 20, 2022
Ivanka Trump is also facing the ire of the internet after the letter's publication.
Just heard that it appears ivanka has cooperated with the 1/6 committee.
Hoping she tries all she can to rehab her image (and fails miserably, may we never forget she had no business representing the country in any way) and gives it all up on her daddy.
— Triggered By Trump (@TriggerdByTrump) January 18, 2022
Wonder what @IvankaTrump will do? Fall in line with the rest of the #TrumpCrimeFamily is my guess... #TrumpInsurrection https://t.co/5USgg1ahIq
— Alan Bennett Ilagan (@alanilagan) January 20, 2022
Wow @IvankaTrump looks like your social calendar is finally filling up again. I'm sure you'll have a great time picking the right frock to wear for the NYAG interview as well as the one in DC. Of course if you don't accept the invites there will be legal consequences so enjoy.😊 https://t.co/7CdZnvNaun
— Cheryl (@chuerta1) January 20, 2022
The letter comes on the heels of a Supreme Court ruling allowing 700+ pages of Trump administration documents to be relayed from the National Archives to the Committee, despite Trump's efforts to block them.
