Why Jared Kushner has suddenly agreed to testify to the January 6th Committee

Days ago it was reported that Ginni Thomas communicated (or attempted to communicate) with Jared Kushner ahead of January 6th. Now it’s being reported that Kushner has suddenly decided to voluntarily testify to the January 6th Committee. It’s not entirely clear what’s up with that, but it doesn’t feel like a coincidence.

Ginni Thomas’ published text messages certainly amount to sedition. What we don’t know is how each person responded to her. The best case for Kushner would be if he blew off Thomas, which would mean he has no criminal exposure on that front, and he can simply testify about what he received from her. This would allow him to avoid a potential criminal contempt referral from the committee.

If Kushner did engage with Thomas about her sedition plan, and he worries that he could end up charged for it (even if he considers himself innocent), he could instead decide to show up and invoke the Fifth Amendment. However, the January 6th Committee has previously made clear that any witnesses who plead the fifth to every question will be considered non-cooperative and subject to referral for contempt.

So Kushner would not be getting himself off the hook for contempt by pleading the fifth to every question. Doing so would instead likely only serve to make things worse for him. It’s difficult to imagine him making such a move unless he’s been getting bad legal advice. But again, we don’t know how Kushner plans to testify – only that he’s suddenly decided to testify.