In their attempts to distance themselves from President Donald Trump's false theories about a stolen election, Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner have failed. While the couple told the Jan. 6 committee that they urged Trump not to take advice from Rudy Giuliani and did not share his views on a stolen election, new evidence and reports say otherwise.
In an interview clip obtained by The New York Times, Ivanka Trump can be heard saying her father should "continue to fight until every legal remedy is exhausted” with regard to the 2020 election. The clip filmed in mid-December 2020 was among the footage handed over by British filmmaker Alex Holder to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.
The footage directly contradicts Ivanka’s testimony to congressional investigators made in April 2022. During that time she told the House committee she had "accepted" former Attorney General Bill Barr's assessment that Trump's claims of election fraud were wrong.
When asked how Barr’s statement impacted her, Ivanka said: "I respect Attorney General Barr. So I accepted what he was saying." The pre-recorded testimony was played in the panel's first public hearing earlier this month; it was a part of a voluntary eight-hour interview.
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According to Business Insider, Trump responded in anger to her testimony and claimed she did not understand elections.
However, while Ivanka attempted to distance herself from her father’s theories and said she agreed with Barr, theTimes found that Ivanka Trump spoke to Holder on Dec. 10, 2020, nine days after Barr made the assessment that convinced her that the election was indeed not stolen.
"I think that, as the president has said, every single vote needs to be counted and needs to be heard, and he campaigned for the voiceless," Ivanka Trump said after being asked about Trump's efforts, the Times reported. "And I think a lot of Americans feel very, very disenfranchised right now, and really, question the sanctity of our elections, and that's not right, it's not acceptable."
"And he has to take on this fight. Look, you fight for what you love the most and he loves this country and he loves this country's people, and he wants to make sure that their voice is, is heard and not muted," she continued. She then added that he “will continue to fight until every legal remedy is exhausted and that’s what he should do.”
Holder acknowledged Tuesday that he had turned over footage that included never-before-seen interviews with Trump, members of the Trump family, and then-Vice President Mike Pence. The interviews were filmed before and after the events of Jan. 6. The footage obtained by the Times was merely a clip from one of them. What was in the full footage was not disclosed.
"As a British filmmaker, I had no agenda coming into this. We simply wanted to better understand who the Trumps were and what motivated them to hold onto power so desperately," Holder said. "We have dutifully handed over all the materials the committee has asked for and we are fully cooperating."
According to Politico, Holder was subpoenaed last week and is set to testify before the panel on Thursday.
The news of the clip comes at a time when Giuliani, Trump's personal attorney expressed fear that his gravestone will say he "lied for Trump.” During an interview with The New Yorker Giuliani, referring to things he said for Trump, expressed fear that he was “not always being truthful about it.”
"I am afraid it will be on my gravestone. 'Rudy Giuliani: He lied for Trump.’ Somehow, I don't think that will be it. But, if it is, so what do I care? I’ll be dead."
"I figure I can explain it to St. Peter," he continued. "He will be on my side, because I am, so far ... I don’t think, as a lawyer, I ever said anything that’s untruthful. I have a sense of ethics that is as high as anybody you can imagine. I've been doing this forever. I am doing what I believe in. I may not always be right, but I am doing what I believe."
But Ivanka Trump and Giuliani are not the only ones to have lied to save themselves or support Trump. While Kushner also claimed no connection, he was actually “directly” involved in Trump’s early attempts to overturn the election. According to Vanity Fair, he even “took charge in overseeing the development of plans to keep Trump in office” in the week following the Nov. 3, 2020, election.