House January 6 committee member Jamie Raskin says Trump "said the criminal part out loud"
Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland expressed confidence that the House select committee investigating January 6 will hear from President Trump's daughter Ivanka about what transpired that day. She's expected to be called to be interviewed by the committee later this week, although Raskin wouldn't comment on specific days or times that she is supposed to speak to them.
The Supreme Court has said that everybody owes Congress "his or her truthful testimony," Raskin, a member of the committee, told CBS News' Scott MacFarlane on "Red & Blue" on Tuesday.
Asked whether he was expecting Ivanka Trump to appear, Raskin declined to answer directly but said, "I personally am expecting everybody who was asked to come and testify to come and do it. And most people are doing it without a subpoena."
"If the president doesn't have an executive privilege claim, certainly, the daughter of the former president doesn't have an executive privilege claim," Raskin told MacFarlane. "What we've got is the Congress and the president of the United States agreeing that there's no executive privilege here — so everybody's got to come and testify."
Raskin said the committee is "making tremendous progress in fleshing out the full picture of what took place on January 6," and he said that "April sounds more realistic" for public hearings, which he believes will give the public the "whole story" of what happened in the assault on the Capitol and Trump's role in what transpired. He said the committee is planning hearings that are similar to Trump's second impeachment trial, when the House impeached him for inciting insurrection.
Ultimately, the committee's aim is to tell the American people and Congress "what exactly happened to us and what were the causes behind it," Raskin said. "What do we need to do to fortify our democratic institutions so we never face a nightmare like that again?"
The committee has spoken this week with two of former Vice President Mike Pence's top aides, Marc Short and Greg Jacob. Raskin said Tuesday that Pence was the "principle target" on January 6 both of the rioters and Trump, who was "trying to convince Pence to announce and assert non-existing powers to unilaterally reject Electoral College votes."
Trump said in a statement earlier this week that Pence could have "overturned the Election!" When asked if that makes the case against Trump simpler, Raskin said it "makes it simple in the sense that Donald Trump said the criminal part out loud."
"That makes it very clear what he was up to, but on the other hand, Donald Trump has been trying to sandbag and obstruct us by getting his greatest intimates in his entourage — like Roger Stone and Steve Bannon and Mark Meadows — not to testify," Raskin said.
