Ivanka’s wheelhouse: she’s in it up to her eyeballs
by digby
I understand that Democrats are hesitant about investigating the president’s family. But they really don’t have a choice since the family members are all as corrupt as he is. I think looking at Ivanka will cause the greatest consternation, but they really cannot justify not looking at her activities.
Ivanka Trump’s absence from the initial list raised eyebrows. But it may not be permanent.
A spokesperson for the committee said Monday that it would be sending out the next batch of document requests soon. The spokesperson did not indicate the exact date for when the request would be sent or what type of documents would be requested. And on Wednesday, Democratic members expressed reservations about targeting the president’s children—particularly those outside the administration—as part of oversight probes.
“Getting to family members I think is dangerous,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), a senior member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, told POLITICO. “Only because it gets real personal, real fast. And it risks backfiring.”
Ivanka Trump is linked to several ongoing investigations and dealing with the fallout of a congressional probe into husband Jared Kushner’s security clearance.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office is reportedly scrutinizing Ivanka Trump’s role in the Trump Tower Moscow deal, including who she communicated with about the plans to build the luxury real estate project in Russia’s capital city.
And in New York, former Attorney General Barbara Underwood last year sued the Donald J. Trump Foundation—where Ivanka Trump was a board member—alleging it had functioned “as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump’s business and political interests.” The lawsuit also alleged that the charity unlawfully coordinated with Trump’s 2016 campaign.
In December, the foundation agreed to dissolve and give away its remaining assets. But its board of directors, which also includes Eric and Donald Trump Jr., is still under investigation. The suit could bar the Trump children from participating on the boards of other New York charities and force them to pay millions in restitution.
Congressional Democrats, including on the House Oversight Committee, have also vowed to investigate Ivanka Trump’s use of a private email server at the start of her time in the White House.
“All of my emails are stored and preserved,” Ms. Trump told ABC News in November. “There were no deletions. There is no attempt to hide.” She told ABC it was was not unusual for people to use private email accounts for personal reasons.
Mr. Cohen, in what was expected to be his last visit to Capitol Hill, brought multiple drafts of his 2017 statement along with emails with Mr. Trump’s lawyers about its drafting, hoping to back up claims that he made last week at an open hearing before the House Oversight and Reform Committee. In that session, Mr. Cohen testified that there were “changes made, additions” to the original written statement, including about the length of negotiations over a proposed Trump Tower project in Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign.
It was not immediately clear how many changes were made by Mr. Trump’s lawyers, including Jay Sekulow, or how drastic those changes were. Two of the people familiar with the documents and Mr. Cohen’s testimony, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the closed-door session, said that at least some of the changes appeared to play down the knowledge of the president’s eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, about the project.
I don’t think people realize how deeply involved in the business Ivanka has been. She wasn’t just running her clothing label. She was the face of the fraudulent condo development deals in which the Trump organization was only licensing the name and getting all their money up front while others lost their shirts. Trump Moscow would have been right in her wheelhouse.
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