Former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway appeared Monday before the House Jan. 6 committee for a nearly five-hour deposition on Capitol Hill.
The former White House senior counselor, who left the administration months before last year’s U.S. Capitol riot, told reporters that she appeared before the panel voluntarily.
The committee has not publicly issued Mrs. Conway a subpoena and has declined to comment on whether she was privately compelled to appear. The panel has declined to comment on her appearance.
Mrs. Conway managed former President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and served on the White House staff through August 2020. She said she left the administration to focus on her family.
She declined to comment on her private discussions with Mr. Trump surrounding the 2020 election when asked by reporters on Monday but said she did not invoke the Fifth Amendment during her deposition before the panel.
“I don’t reveal those conversations,” she said when asked by reporters about whether Mr. Trump ever told her the 2020 election was stolen. “I think if they want to know that from him, they should depose him.”
She said she has not been contacted by the Justice Department regarding its probe into the attack on the Capitol.
Although Mrs. Conway did not serve in the administration during the 2020 election and its aftermath, The Washington Post reported that she called a White House aide during the Capitol riot to urge Mr. Trump to tell his supporters to stand down.
She also told the aide that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office had called her to assist in convincing Mr. Trump to deploy the National Guard during the riot, according to The Post.
The committee is expected to release its final report in the coming weeks before the panel is dissolved under Republican leadership in the House when the next Congress begins in January.
The committee subpoenaed Mr. Trump during its final hearing last month, demanding that the former president hand over a list of documents and testify under oath before the panel. Mr. Trump, who has accused the panel of undertaking a “witch hunt” and squandering taxpayer dollars in its quest to smear him and Republicans, has sued to block the subpoena.
Mr. Trump’s attorneys noted in his suit filed last week that no president had been forced to testify to a congressional committee, though some have done so voluntarily.
When asked whether Mr. Trump should appear before the committee, Mrs. Conway told reporters that the panel “asked him so late.”
“I think the committee’s almost wrapped up,” she said.
• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.
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