This is the first time a member of the Trump family has been asked directly to cooperate with the investigation into the events of January 6, 2021.

The parliamentary committee sent a letter Thursday to the one who was a close adviser to Donald Trump when he was in the White House.

The group of elected officials points out that Ivanka Trump appears to have had first-hand knowledge of her father's attempt to persuade then-Vice President Mike Pence to stop counting the electorate's votes.

It is this count, which formally recorded the defeat of Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, that supporters of the former president had interrupted by forcing the entrance of the American Congress, images followed with amazement around the world.

“The commission wishes to discuss any conversation that you may have witnessed or in which you may have participated regarding the president’s plan to hinder or prevent the counting of the votes of the electors”, details in this letter the elected official Bennie Thompson, at the head of the committee.

"One of the president's discussions with the vice president was over the phone on the morning of January 6," he continues.

"You were present in the Oval Office and observed at least part of this telephone conversation."

In this eight-page missive, the group of elected officials also asks Ivanka Trump to reconstruct her activities on the day of the riot and to give an overview of the measures taken – or not – by the White House that day.

He offers her “a meeting on February 3 or 4”.

Political ambitions

A former regular at social events in New York, Ivanka Trump, 40, became one of her father's closest advisers after the 2016 election, fueling accusations of nepotism against the president.

Her husband Jared Kushner was also an adviser to the White House, in charge of sensitive files such as the peace process in the Middle East.

In a statement sent to several American media, the spokesperson for Ivanka Trump acknowledged receipt of the letter from the investigators, while stressing that the latter had "not spoken during the demonstrations of January 6".

The daughter of the former president, who is suspected of political ambitions, however, did not let it be known whether she actually planned to testify before the commission.

This group, made up mainly of elected Democrats, seeks to establish the responsibility of Donald Trump and his entourage in the assault on the seat of Congress.

Ivanka Trump (D) and her father Donald Trump in Georgia, January 4, 2021 MANDEL NGAN AFP/Archives

Others close to Donald Trump, such as his former chief of staff Mark Meadows, have already been targeted by subpoenas.

But faithful to the injunctions of the former president, who describes the commission as "partisan", they refused to cooperate.

Despite everything, the commission advances at a forced march.

She said she had already heard from nearly 400 witnesses.

There is in fact urgency: she wants at all costs to publish her conclusions before the midterm elections in November 2022. If the Democrats lose control of the House during the ballot, it risks being dissolved by the Republicans.

© 2022 AFP