Donald Trump's pointed remark about Ivanka amid January 6 fallout
As United States congressmen and women pick through the evidence of what was one of the darkest days in American democracy, Donald Trump has thrown some apparent shade at his daughter Ivanka as he continues to push election falsehoods and debunked conspiracies.
The former US president has raged on the social media platform he launched after being kicked off Twitter.
The 75-year-old furiously ranted online as an estimated 20 million Americans tuned into watch the primetime congressional hearings of the January 6 attack on the Capitol in Washington DC last year (almost double the number who tuned in to the opening of Trump’s two impeachment trials).
The probe aired recorded testimony in which Ivanka Trump said she did not believe her father's false claims that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from him.
In a post on the social media platform Truth Social on Friday (local time), Trump sought to downplay his daughter's involvement in his efforts to contest the election, saying she was "checked out".
Ivanka Trump was one of her father's most trusted allies during his four years in the White House.
"Ivanka Trump was not involved in looking at, or studying, Election results. She had long since checked out and was, in my opinion, only trying to be respectful to Bill Barr and his position as Attorney General (he sucked!)," Trump posted.
In her video deposition given in April, Ivanka said she believed then-Attorney General William Barr's assessment that there was no significant evidence of fraud during the election.
The January 6 riot followed shortly after Trump gave an incendiary speech to thousands of supporters outside the White House, repeating his false claims of a stolen 2020 election and urging them to march on the Capitol and "fight like hell."
More than 725 arrests were made in relation to the violent event. While one woman was shot and killed by an officer during the riot, a bipartisan Senate report found that at least seven people had lost their lives in connection to the insurrection-like attack.
In wrenching testimony US Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards told the panel that she slipped in other people’s blood as rioters pushed past her into the Capitol. She suffered brain injuries in the melee.
“It was carnage. It was chaos,” she said.
Posting on his Truth social media platform Friday, Trump declared that January 6 "represented the greatest movement in the history of our country."
When the congressional panel resumes Monday (local time), it will delve into its findings that Trump and his advisers knew early on that he had in fact lost the election but engaged in a "massive effort" to spread false information to convince the public otherwise.
"Over multiple months, Donald Trump oversaw and coordinated a sophisticated seven-part plan to overturn the presidential election and prevent the transfer of presidential power," fellow Republican Liz Cheney told the hearing Thursday night.
"Trump’s intention was to remain president of the United States," she said.
The hearings are intended to stand as the public record of the attack and the circumstances around it and could result in referrals for prosecution.
Donald Trump is reportedly still considering another run at the White House in 2024.
with Reuters, AP
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