Nov. 29 (UPI) — Kellyanne Conway, former senior adviser to ex-President Donald Trump, met with the House select committee Monday to answer questions about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to sources familiar with the meeting as reported by NBC, MSNBC and CNN.
Conway was not subpoenaed, and was seen Monday entering a conference room in the O’Neill House Office Building, in Washington, D.C., with attorney Emmet Flood, who was a lawyer for the former president, according to NBC and MSNBC.
Conway met with committee members for about five hours, according to CNN. She told reporters during a break “I am here voluntarily.” Conway also told reporters that she spoke with Trump recently. “Last week, he called me,” she said while refusing to discuss the committee’s questioning.
The House select committee is working to finish its investigation into Trump’s role on Jan. 6, 2021, when rioters stormed the Capitol to prevent the transfer of presidential power. The committee is expected to issue its report by the end of the year, before Republicans take control of Congress in January.
Conway served as campaign manager for Trump’s 2016 presidential run and then as a senior counselor to Trump at the White House through August 2020, when she left before the election to focus on her family.
In her book, “Here’s the Deal,” released in May, Conway claimed Trump was given bad advice from those around him after he lost the 2020 presidential election.
“Despite the mountains of money Trump had raised, his team simply failed to get the job done. A job that was doable and had a clear path, if followed,” Conway wrote in her book. “Rather than accepting responsibility for the loss, they played along and lent full-throated encouragement when Trump kept insisting he won.”
While Conway was no longer working for Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, there are reports she called one of Trump’s aides who was with him that day and urged Trump to tell his supporters to stand down, according to The Washington Post, which cited 15 Trump advisers and GOP officials, as well as members of Congress.
In addition to Conway, the committee interviewed Bobby Engel, the Secret Service agent in charge of Trump’s security detail on Jan. 6, 2021.
Engel, who testified earlier this month, was expected to answer questions about the happenings inside the presidential limousine on the day of the riots.
Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified in June that, according to Engel, Trump demanded to go to the Capitol after his speech and lunged at the vehicle’s steering wheel when Engle refused, saying it was not safe.
