Former president Donald Trump’s eldest son and namesake reportedly spent three hours giving evidence before the House select committee investigating the 6 January 2021 attack on the Capitol.
According to multiple reports, Donald Trump Jr appeared remotely on Tuesday before the nine-member panel, which for the past 10 months has been looking into the causes of the riot incited by his father in hopes of stopping Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s electoral college victory.
A person familiar with the interview told CNN it was “cordial” and did not involve Mr Trump invoking his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.
The younger Mr Trump was a major supporter of his father’s campaign, and was a sought-after campaign surrogate and fundraiser whose palpable disdain for liberalism made him a popular figure within the GOP.
The Trump Organization vice president was also present at the White House rally during which his father exhorted his supporters to “fight like hell” just before they began storming the Capitol, assaulting police officers, and forcing both the House and Senate to suspend counting electoral votes.
Mr Trump Jr was also a major booster of his father’s attempt to keep himself in office, and reportedly began texting then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to urge him to take action to prevent Mr Biden from being certified as the winner of the 2020 election.
He is the third member of his family to give evidence before the panel, following interviews with his sister, Ivanka Trump, and her husband Jared Kushner.
