Jared Kushner testifies in probe of Trump and the 6 Jan riots – reports

Former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has appeared before a federal grand jury investigating Mr Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, US media report.

A justice department special counsel is investigating Mr Trump’s actions leading up to the 2021 Capitol riots.

The grand jury asked if Mr Trump acknowledged at the time he lost the election, the New York Times reported.

Mr Trump’s former aide Hope Hicks also testified, according to CNN.

The BBC has reached out to representatives for Mr Trump and Mr Kushner for comment.

Federal prosecutors investigating Mr Trump’s 2020 election conduct are deciding whether to bring charges against him.

Last month, Mr Kushner appeared before the grand jury at a federal courthouse in Washington DC, where he told them he thought his father-in-law truly believed the election was rigged, anonymous sources told the New York Times.

Ms Hicks and Mr Kushner are reportedly among several Trump allies who have testified to the grand jury, including former Vice-President Mike Pence.

Mr Smith’s team has also subpoenaed Mr Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, who is married to Mr Kushner, but she has yet to testify, the New York Times reported.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland last year appointed special counsel Jack Smith to lead two investigations into Mr Trump: his handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate and his attempts to overturn the 2020 election won by President Joe Biden.

Mr Trump has repeatedly claimed – with no evidence – that the 2020 election was rigged against him. Fuelled by false claims of election fraud, a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol on 6 January, 2021, disrupting Congress’s certification of the election results.

Last year, a Democratic-led select House panel, the January 6 committee, interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses in an investigation into Mr Trump’s post-election conduct. The panel recommended in December the justice department bring several charges against Mr Trump.

Mr Trump, who is running for president again and is the leading Republican candidate, has called the justice department investigations baseless and has denied playing a role in the Capitol riots.

The former president is also facing other legal issues.

In June, federal prosecutors charged Mr Trump with 37 criminal counts related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents.

In the state of New York he was indicted in April on charges of falsifying business records.

He has pleaded not guilty in both cases.