washington examiner

The House Select Committee investigating the deadly failed insurrection of January 6 issued a letter last week asking to sit down with Ivanka Trump, former President Donald Trump's eldest daughter and ex-senior advisor.

The committee is hoping Ms. Trump can elaborate on her father's actions and disposition that day, including whether or not she was recruited as the only administration official who could convince the former President to finally tell the extremists rioting at the Capitol to go home.

In an interview with the right-leaning Washington Examiner, Trump said of the effort:

“It's a disgrace, what's going on. They're using these things to try and get people's minds off how incompetently our country is being run. And they don't care. They'll go after children."

It's an interesting claim coming from Donald Trump—but not because Ivanka is a 40 year old woman. No, it's because he exhausted efforts to "go after" President Joe Biden's son, Hunter for three whole years. Trump's call with the Ukrainian President in 2019—in which Trump asked for the "favor" of an investigation into Hunter Biden while withholding congressionally allocated military aid—led to his first impeachment.

Trump tweeted about Hunter Biden dozens of times over the course of the 2020 campaign and repeatedly invoked his name in rallies. Trump's allies targeted him too, with his lawyer Rudy Giuliani peddling a smear piece revolving around Hunter Biden's stolen laptop, while far-right Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida mocked Biden's struggles with addiction during a congressional hearing.

People hadn't forgotten this when Trump lamented investigators were hellbent to "go after children."

People also remembered when Trump went after actual children. Trump took out a full page ad that ran in multiple newspapers calling for the execution of the Exonerated Five—then known as the Central Park Five. The teenagers were falsely accused of gang-raping a woman and forced to serve out their sentences even though none of the DNA at the scene matched theirs. They were finally exonerated when another inmate came forward, admitting to the crime.

As recently as 2019, Trump has refused to admit he was wrong to call for the execution of children, especially ones who were exonerated, though he still baselessly casts doubt on their innocence.

People hadn't forgotten that ad either.

Also—again—Ivanka Trump is 40 years old.

Ivanka Trump will almost certainly refuse to cooperate with the committee.