Ivanka Trump could be on next target list from House Democrats: panel chairman

[March 05, 2019]  By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some of President Donald Trump's closest advisers, including his daughter Ivanka, were missing from a list of people from whom Democratic lawmakers sought documents on Monday, but she could conceivably be targeted next, the committee chairman said.

The list of people from whom Democrats sought documents for a corruption investigation of the president covered a who's who of Trump family members and associates. But Ivanka Trump was omitted, even though former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen told lawmakers last week he briefed her numerous times about a Trump skyscraper project in Moscow.

Also absent from the list were former senior White House officials, including Chief of Staff John Kelly and economic adviser Gary Cohn. Both spent more than a year in Trump's inner circle and have featured prominently in books and other published accounts of conditions in the Trump White House.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler told CNN that nobody should draw conclusions just because some people affiliated with Trump's administration and businesses were not included on the initial list.

"All the people on the list have given information already," Nadler said, either to Special Counsel Robert Mueller for his probe of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election or to federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York in their corruption probe.

"All we're asking for at this point is information they've already turned over so that can be done quickly and without questions of (presidential) privilege," Nadler told CNN.

House Democrats say they have been careful to avoid conflicts with Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and possible coordination with the Trump campaign, as well as federal probes being led by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan.

"We may add other people. ... She's not on the initial list, that's all we can say," Nadler said of Ivanka Trump. He said there would be more requests, which might involve additional people.

Asked if Ivanka Trump could conceivably be on the next list of people from whom information is sought, the Democratic lawmaker told CNN: "Conceivably certainly, I can't say. Quite conceivably."

President Donald Trump listens as his daughter, White House senior adviser Ivanka Trump, speaks during a campaign rally on the eve of the U.S. midterm election in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Nadler told ABC on Sunday that Kelly also could be included.

Nadler's committee aims to determine whether the Republican president obstructed justice by possibly offering pardons or tampering with witnesses and by ousting perceived enemies, such as former FBI Director James Comey. Trump fired Comey in May 2017 while he was leading an investigation into Russian meddling in the election. The probe was taken over by Mueller. Trump denies any wrongdoing.

FIRST PHASE

A committee aide said Monday's list was only a first phase of document requests and more letters would be going out soon.

Eighty-one people, agencies and organizations were named by the committee as recipients of document requests, including Trump's adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, as well as his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who is Ivanka's husband and a White House adviser.

Representatives for the White House and Justice Department said the document requests were being reviewed.

At the White House, Trump was asked if he would cooperate with Nadler's probe. "I cooperate all the time with everybody," he said, adding: "You know the beautiful thing? No collusion. It's all a hoax. ... It's a political hoax."

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Grant McCool and Peter Cooney)

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