Is Ivanka Trump Off The Hook In Russia Probe — Or Is Mueller Saving Her For Last?
What should we make of the fact that Ivanka Trump has so far not been interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller?
The first daughter has been in the middle of several incidents that Mueller is probing, including the infamous Trump Tower meeting with Russian operatives and the ill-fated damage control effort that followed.
Yet Ivanka has so far avoided the grillings that have befallen other top officials. Even Ivanka’s hubby Jared Kushner has been called in, albeit for questioning on the narrow issue of his contact with Russia’s ambassador during the transition period.
White House insiders and Mueller-watchers alike are debating whether Mueller wants to avoid unnecessarily angering President Trump by interviewing Ivanka, Politico reports.
The other scenario is that he has not interviewed her because she is — gulp! — a possible target of his probe.
“She’s involved in everything,” said one former White House adviser who has previously clashed with the Trump children. “It’s odd. Unless they consider her that ‘T’ word.”
Most analysts tell Politico that they believe Mueller already has evidence about most of the incidents that Ivanka was directly involved in — and doesn’t want to “light a match to the highly combustible Donald Trump,” said Elizabeth de la Vega, a former federal prosecutor.
“The team would want to wait to the last possible moment, if at all, before taking that step,” De La Vega added.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO