Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

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 editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren

We're building on 127 years of independent journalism to help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish today.

With so much at stake for the Jewish people right now — war, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend on the Forward's perspective, integrity and courage.

—  Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief 

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.