Ivanka Trump posted a black-and-woman photo of her reflection from a Manhattan high-rise, a day after she tried to distance herself from the Trump Organization during an appearance on the stand in her father’s fraud trial.
On Wednesday, Ivanka, who left the family business in 2017 for a key role in the White House, closed a major piece in the lawsuit that could reshape Donald Trump’s real estate empire.
Ahead of her appearance, the ex-president described his daughter as “amazing” and “beautiful” in a post on TruthSocial.
He added that his daughter would “thrive” for the “Trump Hating, out of control, clubhouse appointed judge Arthur Engoron, who viciously ruled against me before the trial even started.”
Ivanka followed her father and her brothers Eric and Donald Trump Jr. to the witness stand, and the New York attorney general’s office rested its case after her testimony. Now it’s the defense’s turn. After the testimony, rumors spread that Ivanka had undergone plastic surgery.
Shortly after her infamous court appearance, in which she tried to distance herself from her father’s affairs, Ivanka reflected on social media.
Ivanka took the stand to answer questions that could make or break Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million lawsuit against her father and brothers, which could sink their business empire
Ivanka was part of her father’s inner circle, both in business and politics, as executive vice president at the family’s Trump Organization and then as a senior White House adviser.
In response to her latest Instagram post, Trump supporter Lex Fridman wrote, “Stay strong.” While David Herrol said: ‘Praying for your father and the family.’
Ivanka testified that she played no role in his personal financial statements, which New York Attorney General Letitia James said were fraudulently inflated and misled banks and lenders.
“Those were not things that I was aware of,” except that I had seen “some documents and correspondence” that referred to them, Ivanka Trump said.
The ex-president and 2024 Republican frontrunner denies any wrongdoing.
He emphasized in court Monday that his financial statements actually vastly underestimated his net worth, that any discrepancies were minor, that a disclaimer absolved him of liability anyway and that “this case is a disgrace.”
In even-toned testimony that counterbalanced her father’s caustic turn on the stand, Ivanka Trump touched on some of the same notes the ex-president has hammered in and out of court — portraying the Trump Organization as a successful developer of major companies. dollar projects that satisfied lenders.
The Doral golf resort in Florida? A ‘Herculean’ renovation undertaken to refurbish a faded treasure Donald Trump visited in his youth, his daughter testified.
Protesters chanting “lock him up” and shouting “fraud” against Ivanka gathered outside the court Wednesday morning
Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump in July 2014 during the groundbreaking ceremony for the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump with their three children Arabella, Theodore and Joseph go for a walk in Miami in October
The historic old corporate post office turned hotel in Washington? ‘A labor of love’ to turn a dilapidated building into a super-luxury hotel, while navigating approvals from a host of different government agencies.
“These were complicated projects, and I think we overdelivered on all counts,” she said.
But when questions about the post office project turned into questions the government owners were asking about aspects of her father’s financial statements, she said she couldn’t remember.
The agency overseeing the bids raised these concerns in a December 2011 letter to her, and Trump Organization executives told her they were preparing a response ahead of a presentation to officials in Washington.
An agency document showed the company addressed the issues in its presentation, which she attended.
But Ivanka Trump said she didn’t remember “them talking specifically about financial statements.” Instead, she recalled talking about “our vision for the project” and the company’s experience, with her father mentioning his renovation of New York’s famed Plaza Hotel.
She retained an interest in the Washington hotel lease until its sale in 2022, which netted her $4 million.
Unlike her father and his adult sons, Ivanka Trump is no longer a defendant in the case, and her lawyers had tried to prevent her from testifying.
When instructed, she said she largely did not remember the documents and details she was asked about.
Ivanka Trump’s relationship with her father took a difficult turn after her testimony before the House of Representatives committee on January 6
During about four hours of polite responses, punctuated by a broad smile, she once thanked an attorney from Attorney General James’ office for bringing up the Old Post Office proposal because it “brought back a lot of memories.”
“Ivanka Trump was cordial, disciplined, controlled and very courteous,” James, a Democrat, said outside the courtroom.
But she added: ‘This case concerns fraudulent statements about the financial condition from which she benefited. She was enriched. And it is clear that you cannot distance yourself from that.’
James’ legal team and Trump’s lawyers repeatedly clashed Wednesday over the scope of Ivanka Trump’s questioning, including whether she could be asked about 2013 emails involving her husband, Jared Kushner, in discussions about possible corporate loans from Trump.
Kushner – himself a real estate manager – did not work for the Trump Organization. But he had introduced his wife to a Deutsche Bank banker when the Trumps sought financing to buy and overhaul Doral, Ivanka Trump testified.
Because he also worked in real estate, they sometimes exchanged ideas and advice, she says.
She became the focal point in establishing a lending relationship with Deutsche Bank’s private asset management division. Ultimately, it provided the Trump Organization with hundreds of millions of dollars in loans, under terms that required Donald Trump to file his financial statements every year.
Amid assets like Trump Tower, the Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and Doral, the financial statements include a Trump-owned building on New York’s Park Avenue. Ivanka Trump was renting and had options to buy two apartments there, and the state’s attorneys allege her father offered her a deep discount while claiming on his financial statements that the apartments were worth much more.
Donald Trump after testifying in his civil trial in New York on Monday
The 42-year-old mother of three children looks at the doorman as she leaves her house
She then hopped into an SUV for the trip to the courthouse in Lower Manhattan
She testified that she invested more than $7.5 million in one of the apartments, a penthouse, but never made it her permanent home because she and her family moved to Washington.
She quit her job at the Trump Organization as her father’s inauguration approached in 2017, and she became an unpaid senior adviser. After the Trump administration ended, she and her family moved to Florida.
The non-jury trial will decide charges of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsifying corporate records – but Judge Arthur Engoron has already resolved the lawsuit’s main claim by ruling that Trump is guilty of fraud.
That decision came with provisions that could strip the ex-president of oversight of major properties like Trump Tower, although an appeals court is allowing him control over his assets for now.
James, a Democrat, is seeking more than $300 million in fines and a ban on Trump doing business in New York.
Now that the case is before the defense, the Trumps’ lawyers plan to argue Thursday that the judge should immediately rule in their favor.
“The attorney general has rested their case, and it is very clear that they have failed to prove the essential elements of the case,” Trump attorney Alina Habba said outside court.
Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., who remain EVPs of the Trump Organization, also claim to have minimal knowledge of their father’s financial statements.
Donald Trump Jr. testified that he discussed the documents only in passing; Eric Trump said he was completely dependent on accountants and lawyers to ensure the accuracy of the documents.