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Biden won't invoke executive privilege for Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner return to the White House on November 29, 2020, after spending Thanksgiving weekend at Camp David. The White House announced Tuesday it won't invoke executive privilege to prevent them from being interviewed by a congressional panel investigating the January 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol. File Photo by Chris Kleponis/UPI
1 of 2 | Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner return to the White House on November 29, 2020, after spending Thanksgiving weekend at Camp David. The White House announced Tuesday it won't invoke executive privilege to prevent them from being interviewed by a congressional panel investigating the January 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol. File Photo by Chris Kleponis/UPI | License Photo

March 29 (UPI) -- U.S. President Joe Biden will not invoke executive privilege for either Ivanka Trump or her husband Jared Kushner, the White House said Tuesday.

Kushner, former President Donald Trump's son-in-law, is scheduled to testify voluntarily this week in front of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and riot at the U.S. Capitol.

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The former president's daughter was asked to testify at the end of January.

"The president has spoken to the fact that Jan. 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," communications director Kate Bedingfield said during a press briefing Tuesday.

"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. So, as a result, the White House has decided not to assert executive privilege over the testimony of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump."

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In early March, Biden said he would not assert executive privilege in the cases of former Trump administrators Michael Flynn and Peter Navarro to keep them from testifying in front of the committee.

This comes after a federal judge ruled on Monday that former President Donald Trump and legal adviser John Eastman probably committed federal felonies in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by pro-Trump radicals.

Investigators have said they are interested in speaking with both Ivanka Trump and her husband about their roles leading up to and during the riot.

On Tuesday, House investigators said the committee will seek an interview with Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, a conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. At issue is a series of text messages in which she urged then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to continue efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

House investigates Jan. 6 attack on U.S. Capitol

Sgt. Aquilino Gonell of the U.S. Capitol Police wipes away tears Tuesday as he testifies before members of the Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Pool Photo by Jim Lo Scalzo/UPI | License Photo

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