Donald Trump Jr. testifies to Jan. 6 committee: reports
Donald Trump Jr. spoke before the Congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol on Tuesday in the latest blow to his father’s efforts to stonewall the panel according to media reports.
Appearing by videoconference for two hours, Trump Jr. spoke to the panel voluntarily and the discussion was “pretty uneventful,” according to NBC News.
The interview with the oldest son of former President Trump comes as the bipartisan House committee moves closer to the former president’s inner circle of family members and political advisers.
In several social media videos posted at the time of the Jan. 6 attack, Trump Jr. was seen with Kimberly Guilfoyle — then his girlfriend, now his fiancee — and other members of his family as his father prepared to make a speech that investigators believed rallied supporters to act violently that day.
The panel was sure to ask Trump Jr. about a text he sent to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows as a mob of violent Trump supporters rampaged through the Capitol on Jan. 6, urging the former president to stop the violence.
“He’s got to condemn this [sh**] Asap,” Trump Jr. texted Meadows.
Trump Jr. is one of nearly 1,000 witnesses the committee has interviewed as it works to compile a record of the worst attack on the Capitol in more than two centuries. He is the second of Trump’s children known to speak to the committee; sister Ivanka Trump sat down with lawmakers for eight hours in early April. Her husband, Jared Kushner, has also been interviewed by the committee.
The committee of seven Democrats and two Republicans is looking to wrap up its nearly 11-month investigation and shift into the public hearing phase. Hearings are set to begin June 9 and go on for four weeks. Lawmakers expect to bring out witnesses and present evidence in an effort to educate the public on the full scope of the attack and Donald Trump’s role in it.
Trump Jr. is no stranger to congressional investigations, having testified at least three times in House and Senate investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
With News Wire Services
