The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack met Friday with Kimberly Guilfoyle — one of the closest associates of the Trump family to appear before the panel for closed-door testimony — but the interview quickly derailed.
Guilfoyle, a former Fox News personality who worked for former President Donald Trump's reelection campaign and is engaged to his son, Donald Trump Jr., spoke on Jan. 6 at the rally held by Trump near the White House that preceded the riot at the Capitol.
Guilfoyle tweeted a statement from her lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, Friday morning confirming she spoke with the committee. But the statement said members of the panel broke the terms of their agreement, which was to have only staff lawyers present for the interview.
"Ms. Guilfoyle, under threat of subpoena, agreed to meet exclusively with counsel for the select committee in a good faith effort to provide true and relevant evidence," the statement said. "However, upon Ms. Guilfoyle's attendance, the committee revealed its untrustworthiness, as members notorious for leaking information appeared. Then, while counsel briefly halted the meeting to address the matter, our concerns about the presence of the committee's members were validated, as the committee within less than two minutes leaked news of the break to the news media."
Tacopina singled out Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and "multiple other members" for what he called "a brazen attempt to publicize an obviously baseless investigation" and alleged the members' "only real interest was to sandbag our client and use today's interview as a political weapon against President Trump and those who support him."
The committee had previously subpoenaed phone records related to Guilfoyle.
In a statement, the spokesperson for the panel said Guilfoyle "has information of interest to the select committee and has provided documents germane to our investigation." It added that her refusal to answer questions would be "forcing the select committee to compel her testimony at an upcoming deposition.”
“The select committee had hoped she would do as dozens of other witnesses have done: participate in a voluntary transcribed interview with staff and committee members. Ms. Guilfoyle has now declined to do so,” the statement said.
Ivanka Trump, the daughter of the former president, is also in talks with the committee to voluntarily participate in an interview.
A representative for Guilfoyle did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
