Donald Trump’s lawyers repeatedly objected to questions the New York State Attorney asked Ivanka during her calm and collected appearance on the stand in the $250 million fraud trial that could sink her family’s business empire in the Big Apple.
The 42-year-old was quiet and polite during her testimony after the judge made a joke as she was sworn, in stark contrast to her father’s combative appearance in the same court on Monday.
Trump Attorney Christopher Kise said the evidence presented was too broad and claimed the judge was giving ‘enormous latitude’ as the former first daughter was asked about securing loans for the family business accused of widespread fraud.
The former first daughter she hasn’t worked for her father’s business empire since 2017, when she entered the White House as one of her dad’s advisors.
She detailed her involvement in a $150 million deal for a Miami golf course in 2012 and discussed a series of emails with banks to set up loans.
State attorney Louis Solomon at one point showed her an email where she suggested she appeared to ask Deutsche Bank to lower the net worth her father needed to get a loan.
Trump’s 2011 statement of financial condition listed his net worth as more than $4 billion, but Ivanka proposed $2billion.
The mother-of-three denied any knowledge of her father’s personal financial statements central to the case, and insisted her work focused on the Trump Organization.
She gave careful answers during the testimony that could make or break Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit accusing her real estate mogul father and brothers of deliberately inflating values.
At least a dozen times she said ‘I don’t recall’ and claimed she didn’t remember details of agreements with bankers going back to 2011.
Ivanka Trump is in court for her bombshell testimony in her father’s New York fraud trial that could sink their business empire in the Big Apple
The 42-year-old said she hasn’t worked for her father’s business empire since 2017 and detailed her involvement in a $150 million Miami golf course in a calm and collected appearance on the stand in the New York fraud trial on Wednesday
She will take the stand to face questioning that could make or break Attorney General Letitia James’s $250 million suit against her father and brothers that could sink their business empire
The 42-year-old mother-of-three left her apartment in Manhattan in Jimmy Choo heels and a blue coat on Wednesday morning and jumped into an SUV for the trip downtown for her blockbuster appearance
She began her big day in court by smiling as she left her apartment on Park Avenue morning in a blue Carolina Herrera coat, Jimmy Choo heels, and a Chanel bag.
Surrounded by cops and photographers, she then entered the packed court in a dark suit and white shirt to be sworn in as a witness.
‘The people call Ivanka Trump’, the court clerk said as she walked in front of the defense table to take the stand. Her father’s nemesis Justice Arthur Engoron then drew a laugh from the gallery by joking: ‘Who’s she?’
Solomon started by asking Ivanka about her educational background and work history, particularly about her work on Trump Doral in Miami, which Ivanka took the lead in developing for the family real estate empire. She confirmed she hasn’t worked for the Trump Organization since January 2017, when she joined her father’s presidential administration, but she acknowledged she had a financial interest in the proceeds from the Old Post
Justice Engoron jumped in and told her to speak up and move closer to the microphone so the rest of the court could hear her answers in a stark contrast to her father’s combative appearance on Monday .
She said she spent an ‘enormous amount’ of time on Trump Doral in Florida and on the Old Post Office building in Washington D.C. – two major Trump developments she led.
The former first daughter has repeatedly tried to avoid appearing with her lawyers, claiming it would cause ‘undue hardship’ to be in court during a school week. She is the fourth member of the family to testify, but is the only one not named as a defendant in the lawsuit after her attorney got her dismissed from the case. The Trump Organization bought Doral, a Miami resort that became Trump’s largest golf course, for $150 million in 2012.
Solomon grilled Ivanka on the financing for the project. She said of Doral: ‘It was in rather poor condition. We invested an enormous amount of money in repositioning the asset.’
Ivanka, like her brothers, when confronted with emails about financing Trump projects, says she doesn’t remember those conversations but adds ‘I have no reason to doubt it.’
She said they reached out to several banks about the project. ‘It wasn’t uncommon for us to ask people in the market what their thoughts were,’ she noted.
The Trumps brought Doral after it had fallen into bankruptcy. The 2012 loan came from Deutsche Bank and the bank required Donald Trump to personally guarantee it.
Solomon took Ivanka through a series of documents showing the Trump Organization’s outreach to various banks about trying to get financing for Doral.
The implication is that the Trump Organization couldn’t obtain loans from those banks for the Doral project.
One of Donald Trump’s attorneys, Christopher Kise, has repeatedly objected to the line of questioning, calling it too broad.
‘This is respectfully enormous latitude,’ Kise told Judge Engoron, adding he hopes the defense is given the same amount of it when it presents its case.
‘What’s the old saying – what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander,’ Engoron replied.
Ivanka has been careful in her responses to say she either doesn’t remember specifics or that she remembers seeing things that the state pointed out to her in documents.
‘The people call Ivanka Trump’, the clerk called as she walked in front of the defense table in the packed courtroom
Trump walks up the stairs to the courthouse surrounded by New York court officers. Her lawyers have repeatedly appealed to try and avoid her taking the stand
The former first daughter smiled as she walked out of her apartment on Park Avenue ahead of her bombshell testimony that could make or break the fraud case
She noted that given the amount of time from when those discussions were taking place – in 2011 – and present day, it is hard for her to recall all the details.
Ivanka Trump is the attorney general’s 25th witness in the case and is expected to be the last.
Hours before she was set to take the strand, Trump praised his ‘wonderful, beautiful daughter’ and said she was being ordered to appear at the direction of Letitia Peekaboo James, the Corrupt and Racist New York State Attorney General, who has allowed Murder and Violent Crime in New York to flourish…
‘They are trying to bring Ivanka into the case, despite the Court of Appeals ruling that she cannot be charged. Sad!’
He also tore into the ‘Trump hating’ and ‘clubhouse appointed’ Engoron, who ‘viciously ruled against me before the trial even started’.
The former first daughter is testifying under duress after she and her attorney fought the subpoena and took it to the court of appeals.
The 42-year-old is the final witness in the case and will be grilled by state attorneys just two days after her father’s combative testimony where he attacked Judge Arthur Engoron and James
Her legal team argued that traveling to New York from her Florida home would place ‘undue hardship’ because the appearance was in the middle of a school week.
But, now, under a judge’s order, Ivanka will face questions about her family’s business deals and financial statements concerning the value of company assets in its golf and real estate empire.
Her family’s ability to keep doing business in New York state is on the line, James seeks $250 million in penalties after the judge already issued a finding of fraud and put some limitations on Trump family business deals in place.
James told reporters that Ivanka Trump ‘secured and negotiated loans to obtain favorable terms based on fraudulent statements of financial condition’.
‘She will attempt today to distance herself from the company,’ James added.
‘But unfortunately, the facts will reveal that she was very much involved.
‘We uncovered the scheme, and she benefited from it personally. And Miss Trump will do all she can to separate herself from this corporation, but she’s inextricably tied to the Trump Organization.’
Hours before she was set to take the strand, Donald Trump praised his ‘wonderful, beautiful daughter’ and attacked AG James on Truth Social
Ivanka is not professionally at risk. Her attorney got her dismissed from James’ case. But her relationship with her family could be on the line.
She is rarely seen in public with her father Donald Trump, and has her own legal team separate from Donald, Don Jr and Eric Trump.
Trump took the stand on Monday, where he sparred with New York Judge Arthur Engoron and delivered long, campaign-style speeches, in which Engoron told him to stop and answer the questions.
The case is civil, not criminal, meaning the judge will determine the case’s outcome instead of a jury.
Engoron already ruled that Trump’s financial statements were filled with fraud. This trial is to determine the punishment.
Part of determining that punishment is to look at the intent.
The judge will determine whether the Trumps deliberately falsified business financial statements to inflate the company’s value in order to obtain favorable terms for loans and insurance coverage.
That is where the testimony of Ivanka, Don Jr. and Eric comes into play.
And while Don Jr. and Eric remain part of the Trump Empire, Ivanka Trump has stepped away from the family trade. She and husband Jared Kushner are independently wealthy and not financially dependent on the former president.
In their testimony last week, Ivanka’s brothers distanced themselves from the company. The two served as trustees of Trump Org after Donald Trump became president.
Don Jr blamed the accountants who prepared paperwork for him to sign in his role of trustee, saying his signature attesting to the accuracy of the financials was ‘not a symbol of yes or no.’
Eric said he was not involved with the preparation of the financial statements and knew ‘nothing’ about them.
Surrounded by cops and photographers, she then entered the packed court in a dark suit and white shirt to be sworn in as a witness.
Alina Habba, a member of Donald Trump’s legal team, walks into the court two days after she called Justice Engoron ‘unhinged’ for telling her to sit down during the former president’s testimony
The 42-year-old mother-of-three looks at the doorman as she leaves her home
She then got into a SUV for the journey to the court in lower Manhattan
Meanwhile, Ivanka Trump has publicly distanced herself from her father and her Trump family since leaving the White House in January 2021.
She and Kushner live in Miami with their three children. Ivanka’s focus is now ‘on her family, friends and philanthropic work’ as she transitions from her political life to a more private one, sources close to her told DailyMail.com recently.
She has raised money for Ukrainian refugees and helped deliver supplies to the people of Maui after the devasting wildfires in Hawaii. What she has not done is re-enter politics.
She wasn’t at Mar-a-Lago last November when Donald Trump announced he would seek another White House term, posting a statement that she loved her father but wanted to stay out of politics.
Father and daughter still spend time together, albeit in private and away from the cameras. ‘The two play golf regularly,’ a source revealed.
They also see each other at family occasions such as at the bat mitzvah of Ivanka’s 13-year-old daughter Arabella Kushner this summer, as well having the occasional lunch and dinner together.
Protesters chanting ‘lock him up’ and shouting ‘fraud’ at Ivanka gathered outside the court on Wednesday morning
Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump in July 2014 at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump with their three children Arabella, Theodore and Joseph out for a walk in Miami in October
Donald Trump after testifying in his civil trial in New York on Monday
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner with Donald Trump at his Bedminster Golf Club in July
Ivanka Trump with President Trump on Air Force One in November 2020
Ivanka Trump’s relationship with her father took a rocky turn after her testimony before the House’s January 6th committee
But their relationship took a shocking turn in June 2022 when Donald Trump turned on his daughter after her testimony to the House committee investigating the January 6th insurrection revealed she didn’t think the 2020 presidential election was rigged.
In a 17-second clip of her interview to the committee that was played during a primetime televised hearing, Ivanka backed up Trump Attorney General Bill Barr’s assertion that the election wasn’t stolen from her father.
‘I respect Attorney General Barr. So I accepted what he said — was saying,’ she says.
In the aftermath, the former president took to his Truth Social social media account to say that Ivanka was ‘not involved in looking’ at the results of the 2020 election.
‘Ivanka Trump was not involved in looking at, or studying, Election results. She had long since checked out and was, in my opinion, only trying to be respectful to Bill Barr and his position as attorney general (he sucked),’ Trump wrote on Truth Social, around 12 hours after part of her testimony was revealed.
It was a startling turn of events. Trump and his daughter were known for their close relationship and she was seen as his favorite child.
In April of last year, Ivanka Trump spent eight hours testifying before the House committee investigating the attack on the Capitol, where Donald Trump supporters attempted to stop the certification of the election.
She reportedly was one of the White House staff who went to the Oval Office multiple times on January 6th, asking her father to tell his supporters to leave the Capitol.
Donald Trump Jr. (left) and Eric Trump (right) in a New York courtroom last week
Before politics, Ivanka Trump served as Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization, her family’s business empire.
It was a position that catapulted her to fame, leading to guest appearances on her father’s then-reality show The Apprentice and inches of press in New York’s notorious tabloid gossip columns.
She participated in Trump and Trump-branded projects, including deal evaluation, pre-development planning, financing, design, construction, sales, and marketing, according to then-descriptions on the Trump Organization’s website.
She also led the charge to led the charge to develop the Old Post Office Building in Washington D.C. to a signature Trump hotel. She oversaw the $200-million conversion of the historic building. It opened in 2016 and was a gathering point for Trump supporters during his administration but the family sold off the lease in May 2022.
Ivanka turned her business skills into a company of her own, where she sold jewelry, shoe, and clothing.
She left the business in March 2017 to become a senior adviser in Donald Trump’s White House.