Updated Mar 29, 2022 - Politics & Policy

Biden won't assert executive privilege for Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. Photo: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images

The White House will not assert executive privilege over Jared Kushner's or Ivanka Trump's testimony to the committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said Tuesday.

Driving the news: Kushner is expected to appear voluntarily before the committee this week, according to CNN. The panel had asked Ivanka Trump, who is married to Kushner, to cooperate with the investigation as well.

  • The White House has rejected executive privilege in regards to the Jan. 6 investigation for several other former Trump administration officials, including Michael Flynn and Peter Navarro.

What they're saying: "Obviously, the President has spoken to the fact that January 6 was one of the darkest days in our country's history and that we must have a full accounting of what happened to ensure that it never occurs again," Bedingfeld said at a press briefing on Tuesday, explaining the decision.

  • "And he's been quite clear that they posed a unique threat to our democracy and that the constitutional protections of executive privilege should not be used to shield from Congress or the public information about an attack on the Constitution itself. And so as a result the White House has decided not to assert executive privilege over the testimony of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump."
  • Bedingfeld said she could not speak to communications between the White House and Kushner and his team.
Go deeper